I'm Beauty, are you my Beast?
by mineseagullss
Summary: Ginny is learning to understand her favorite Professor. Will it be love or is she just imagining things? Ginny/Snape, Sirius/Hermione, Harry/OC, Gabrielle/Draco. T for language. This is my first story, so be nice.
1. Chapter 1

I own nothing, it all belongs to J.K. Rowling! I'm just a fan of her works! Just a heads up I have the books at my side in a valiant attempt to keep all characters and timelines and sequences, etc. As accurate as possible. As a Fan Fiction reader myself, I tend to get hung up on little in accuracies. Thus I will try not to do that in my story...

Set during OOTP just after Sirius's death.

Hermione knocked carefully on the door to Professor Snape's office. Fear churning in her gut making her feel nauseous.

"Enter" Was the curt response from within. Letting out an anxious huff, she turned the cold metal handle and pushed the door open. Professor Snape looked up from the stack of essays he was grading to see who was at the door. his lip curled in distain as he recognized Hermione.

"What is it you need Miss Granger?" He asked impatiently, Hermione chewed her lip and wondered for the hundredth time if this was a good idea._ It's too late now, you're already here._

"I don't think Sirius Black is actually dead. I saw a hand coming out of the veil after Harry left. I think he's alive." She confessed quietly, wondering if he could hear her. He raised a single eyebrow, the only indication that he heard what she had said.

"And what do you hope to achieve by telling me this?" He answered, utter disinterest seemed to be the only emotion on his face.

"Well-" She began awkwardly, "I need your help to save him, Sir." Snape looked displeased to say the least.

"Why on earth would I do such a thing?" He sneered, Hermione looked appalled. "Because he's alive, he needs our help!" She nearly shouted at him.

He smiled cruelly, "I fail to see how I am required to lift a finger for someone foolish enough to get themselves killed in the first place." Hermione began to get desperate, "Please Sir, I know that he's stupid! A-and I'm sure he knows that now too, but you must save him!" She begged him, her voice getting shrilly with emotion.

He quirked another eyebrow, looking at her in mock ignorance. "Must I?" Finally getting angry, Hermione looked at him darkly. "If you won't save him then I will, and when I return I tell Dumbledore how you refused to help me thus putting a student in harm's way." She stated matter-of -factly, crossing her arms confidently and leaning on one leg.

His eyes narrowed as she stared back at him with a boldness she didn't feel. "A hundred points from Gryffindor for blackmailing a teacher, and detention with Mr. Filch every day after dinner until the end of the school year." Snape growled dangerously, Hermione blanched.

"But Sir, it's Sirius's life on the line here! Please Sir! You have to!" She sobbed shakily, desperate to convince him. He stood from his desk and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her out of his office.

"Starting now Miss Granger." He snarled, taking her out of the dungeons and depositing her in Filch's office. Hermione clutched his sleeve, he looked back in disgust as she blubbered at him. "Please Sir, just don't tell Harry! Whatever you do! He can't know that he's alive!" This caught his attention.

Latching onto this, Hermione continued. "To prevent something like this from happening again. He mustn't know until it's safe! Please Sir!" Snape shook off her grip on his sleeve and turned to Filch who was looking suspiciously between the two.

Snape drew himself up to his full height and addressed Filch, "See to it that she gets properly punished and doesn't shirk or leave early. And be sure she actually makes it to her dormitory without any detours." His icy tone leaving no room for argument. He spun on his heel and in a flurry of black robes he was gone. Hermione sobbed her way through her detention.

Immediately after leaving that damn girl in Filch's care. Snape strode out of the castle and across the grounds toward Hogsmeade, silently cursing Sirius Black for being such a fool. Upon reaching the gate, he slipped through and apparated to the Ministry. The place was in utter chaos in the aftermath of the battle that just took place.

He made his way unnoticed by all into the Department of Mysteries. Finally halting in front of the Veil, he saw the half conscious face of Sirius Black feebly trying to pull himself out of the Veil. With a sigh of annoyance, he bent over and grabbed Sirius by the top of his hair. Sirius grunted in pain as Snape pulled him from the Veil by his hair. When Sirius was fully out, Snape dropped him on the floor.

Sirius groaned in pain and rolled over on his stomach. Snape nudged him with a foot rudely, "You owe me twice now." Sirius gave a short laugh. "And just when I thought I could even things out, too." He crawled to his feet, using Snape's robe with much protest from him. With Sirius finally standing and using Snape as a crutch, the two men slowly made their way out of the Department.

When they got to the lobby, Sirius ducked his head down, letting his long shaggy hair cover his face. It was a tense few minutes as they carefully shuffled towards the apparation site. They had only just made it when they Minister of Magic himself appeared before them with a distraught looking assistant in tow.

They both tensed as the Minister brushed past them, though neither he nor his assistant even spared them a glance as he made his way through the mess that was the Atrium. Sirius gripped Snape's arm tightly as he apparated.

The two arrived at Snape's house and silently went inside. Sirius plopped himself in the old armchair, making Snape's expression sour considerably. Taking no notice of this, Sirius sigh heavily. "So now what? Back to Grimmauld Place I presume?" He inquired resignedly,

"No." Snape answered quietly. "At least, not for a while." Sirius stared at him, a mixture of surprise and hope etched across his face. "What do you mean, no?" Snape took his time before replying, knowing he had to say this carefully. "

To the rest of the world, Sirius Black is dead. And it's going to stay that way until everything is in place for you to return."

Sirius stood up suddenly, "What?!" He practically shouted. "No! But Harry needs me! I'm his Godfather! I can't leave him!" Snape waited for him to finish before speaking.

"Potter will be just fine without worrying about your safety! Because let's be honest here, the only reason he was in the Ministry at all was because he believed you to be in peril." Snape could see that he had struck a nerve, Sirius opened and closed his mouth trying to figure out what to say.

"But it'll be different now!" He said finally, Snape scoffed. "How? you'll be stuck in Grimmauld Place as you have been and under even tighter restrictions because now you've almost gotten yourself bloody killed!" Sirius sat down in defeat, holding his head in his hands. "So now what?" He repeated in a sad croak, Snape smirked evilly. "Now we alter your appearance, so you can run errands for me undetected." Sirius barely had time to raise his head before Snape's spell hit him.

"I'M_ BALD!"_ Sirius exclaimed in horror, gripping fistfuls of his hair that had fallen out and trying to put them back on his head. Snape laughed so hard he had to sit down on his thread bare sofa. Sirius whimpered like an abused dog as he stared at his hair on the floor. Snape regained some composure after a moment and hit Sirius with a couple more spells. Sirius's body shrunk to about 5'4" and his features became round and pudgy.

Sirius gave him a look of utter betrayal and Snape smiled in complete satisfaction at his handiwork. "So, what do we name you?" Snape mused silkily, Sirius shot him a death glare. Seeming heartened by Sirius's foul mood, Snape continued. "Mr. Bigglesworth? Egghead Jones? Humpty-Dumpty?" Sirius couldn't help but chuckle, even at his own expense. "Monsieur Marchand D'Oeufs." He announced in a mockingly dignified two of them laughed until their sides hurt.

Hermione was in the Gryffindor common room a day before the Hogwarts Train left for home. She had spent every night in detention with Filch and had not had a chance to go to the Ministry and look for Sirius until that night. But she had of course found nothing. So Hermione sobbed on Ginny's shoulder, unable to bring herself to explain why she was so upset other than it was regarding Sirius.

Ginny hugged her kindly, rubbing soothing circles on her back. Hermione finally quieted down, hiccupping her last sobs away and Ginny held her at arms length to get a good look at her face.

"I didn't know you cared for him that much." Hermione stiffened at the idea forming in her friend's mind.

"I don't think it's quite like_ that_..." She defended, a blush creeping up her cheeks. Ginny smirked, "Sure, I understand. But you know, I'm your friend Hermione. You can tell me anything, I wont tell a soul." Hermione blushed a little more, looking uncomfortable.

"It's really not like that. I swear." Ginny nodded silently, though it was quite apparent that she didn't really believe her. Hermione hung her head solemnly, "But it doesn't really matter now does it? He's dead." Her voice cracked a little as she finally said it out loud. Ginny gave her a sad smile, unsure of what to do or say to help her friend. They continued to sit in silence, just taking comfort in each other's presence.

Later that evening, Ginny was perusing the library. She ran her finger along the spines of the books as she passed them, wishing that one of them held the answer to her friend's woes._ *SMACK!*_ Jumping at the sound, Ginny turned to see a book had fallen off the shelf. She picked it up quickly before Madame Pince could see one of her precious books on the floor.

Curiosity compelled her to look in the book,_Advanced Transfiguration: A complete guide to becoming an Animagus._ Ginny smiled, remembering her and Hermione trying to learn to become Animagi but Hermione had been too proud to ask Sirius for help. An idea came to her, they could complete their study and become Animagi!

She tucked the book under her arm and drew her outer robes over it, stealthily gliding past Madame Pince who was busily mending a book at her desk. She heaved a sigh of relief as she made it out of the library undetected, only to run straight into a very solid person right in front of her. "Oofh!" Ginny grunted as she fell backwards. Strong hands grabbed her upper arms to keep her from falling over. The book slipped from her armpit and she barely caught it with her fingertips.

She looked at the tree of a person she ran in to. Ginny found herself staring at the front of someone's very black robes. Trepidation turned to horror as her eyes followed the robes up to look at Professor Snape. He looked down at her with annoyance and distain.

"You'll find walking much easier if you look where you're going, Miss Weasley." She blushed scarlet and simply nodded. His black eyes were staring straight at her, making her feel small and insignificant. He set her back on her feet, but didn't let go yet. She felt as if her heart was going to beat right out of her chest.

"I expect an apology Miss Weasley, it's rude to run into someone without an apology." He snapped coldly, Ginny mumbled an apology and tried to slip away. He didn't let her go. "A little louder Miss Weasley, I don't even think the mice heard you."

Feeling awkwardly fine with his proximity, she hesitated a little longer. His eyes narrowed, "Well I suppose I'll have to dock points for your rude behavior." He threatened, "I'm sorry Sir! I'll look where I'm going Sir." She practically shouted to him, he gave her a nasty smile and released her upper arms.

"Much better, five points from Gryffindor." He replied evilly. Ginny's head shot up and before she could stop herself, she started to argue. "But I said I'm sorry! You didn't have to dock points!" His thin lips curled into a nasty smile,

"Ten points for talking back to a teacher." The heat from her face was now from anger instead of embarrassment, "I don't understand why you feel the need to be so mean!" She yelled in frustration, her hand that was not still clutching the book balled into a fist at her side. He never ceased to be able to get a rise out of her.

"Twenty points for such unwarranted behavior." He continued smugly. Ginny's temper made her feel as if she might explode but she clenched her jaw shut, knowing not to argue anymore. He waited to see if she would say anything more, seeming a little disappointed when she said nothing. They stared each other down for a moment longer. Finally, Ginny dropped her gaze and Snape swept past her. She turned to glare at his retreating back, "You would be my favorite teacher if you weren't such a _git!_" She yelled at him, he halted and stiffened. Suddenly realizing what she said, Ginny spun on her heel and took off running at top speed.

Snape stared at her retreating back, uncertain of what to do or think. He blinked a few times, finally he huffed in annoyance. That girl always seemed to catch him off guard. Seeing as she had already fled and he couldn't take anymore points from her, he turned around and continued his walk to the library.

The next day Ginny told Hermione about the book. She thought it was a great idea and made a duplicate of the book before they met up with Harry and Ron. Without speaking about it, they both decided it was best to keep it a secret. Neither of them felt any desire to include anyone else in their plans.

Over the summer break, they managed to complete their studies in secret. By the time Harry arrived at the Burrow, they could successfully transform into animals. Hermione was a chocolate golden retriever and Ginny a red fox with blue eyes. At night, when everyone was asleep would tiptoe their way outside to transform and play. Still neither of them felt like telling anyone else.

Finally the trip to Diagon Alley was upon them, Dad was saying something to Ron about the Ministry cars but Ginny didn't pay attention and climbed in the car after Hermione. Looking out the window at the overcast skies, she wondered idly what her father would think if he knew she had become an illegal Animagus. She felt sure he would be disappointed that she did it illegally but underneath it she hoped he would be proud that his daughter was smart enough to become an Animagus.

They arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, Dad spoke to the driver, saying something about them only needing a couple hours. Ginny wished they had more time. As they got out of the car, Harry was swept up into a hug by Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper the moment he stepped out of the car.

They were talking about Buckbeak as Harry massaged his ribs. Ginny smiled, she was happy that the poor hippogriff got to get out of that gloomy house. Harry and Hagrid chatted a moment longer and then they all went inside the Leaky Cauldron. Ginny was unnerved when she saw the place was completely empty.

Hagrid Spoke to the landlord Tom who had looked up hopefully as they entered. he nodded gloomily and returned to wiping glasses; Harry, Hermione, Hagrid, Dad, Mum and Ron filed through to the back courtyard with Ginny bringing up the rear. Hagrid tapped his pink umbrella on a certain brick on the wall which open instantly into an archway.

They stepped through and paused to look around. Wanted posters and security advice pamphlets everywhere covered the colorful, glittering window displays of spellbooks, potion ingredients, and cauldrons. A few places were boarded up, including Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. But there where a lot of shabby looking stalls that had sprung up all along the way. The closest one was erected just outside Flourish and Blotts, it had a striped awning with stains on it and a stupid cardboard sign stuck to the front that read:

**AMULETS**

**Effective Against Werewolves, Dementors, and Inferi**

A creepy-looking wizard several inches shorter than Ginny rattled silver symbols attached to chains at everyone who passed by.

"One for your little girl, madam?" The creep called to Mum as we passed, leering at Ginny. "Protect her pretty neck?" Dad glared angrily at the amulet seller.

"If I were on duty..." Dad said. Ginny wondered idly what the man would do if she showed him exactly how capable she was of handling herself.

"Yes, but don't go arresting anyone now, dear, we're in a hurry." Mum said, looking at her list. "I think we'd better do Madam Malkin's first..."

Ginny stopped listening and started looking around to see if she could spot any familiar faces from school. Ginny snapped her attention back to the conversation at hand in time to hear to verdict. As her brother, Harry and Hermione left with Hagrid, Ginny followed her Mum and Dad to Flourish and Blotts.

Once inside Ginny set off in search of interesting and rare books she might be able to convince her Mum and Dad to buy for her. She wandered further into the store until she was deep in the rare section, towering shelves line deep with ancient and heavy tomes. One book finally caught her eye, on a shelf just little out of reach. She stood on her tiptoes stretching up to her fullest height, but her fingertips barely brushed the bottom edge of it. Determined to get the book, she jumped up and grabbed at it but didn't quite get it. She huffed in frustration, trying a few more times, but still nothing.

To stubborn to give up, she bent a little lower and jumped again, putting more force behind it. She caught the top edge of it and got it loose but it slipped from her grasp and fell, headed straight for her face. Before it hit her, a long pale hand shot out of nowhere and caught it. Another book fell as well a little after but the person's other hand caught it as well. Ginny stared at the books for a moment, the reality of how close she had been to getting hit by them. Then she turned around to look at her savior. Her eyes widened when she realized it was Professor Snape.

Her last encounter with him came flooding back and she blushed in embarrassment. He looked down at her calmly and handed her the book she had been reaching for. He offered her the other book as well, but after a cursory look at the title, she shook her head silently and he put it back on the shelf it came from.

She stared at him silently for a moment, unsure of what she should say or do and not so sure she even wanted to move. He stared back as if he was expecting her to say something. Without thinking she said, "Um, thank you." Sounding lame even to herself, the faintest outline of an amused smile played across his thin lips.

He gave her a small nod and then turned his attention back to the bookshelf at hand. She just watched him for a moment, curious to see him out of Hogwarts. His eyes scanned across the titles carefully, occasionally he would pick out a book and leaf through it, only to put it back and keep searching.

"Is there something more you require from me, Miss Weasley?" He asked quietly, making her jump and startling her out of her musings over him. Blushing in embarrassment yet again, she looked at her feet and mumbled.

"No, Sir. Sorry, thank you. Er… Bye... I guess I'll see you at Hogwarts, Sir..." He looked down at her, like he was concerned about her mental state. Ginny took this as her que to leave, so she turned and walked away. She stopped at the end of the bookshelf, turned back slightly and quietly said.

"I'm sorry for what I called you, before... at Hogwarts... I shouldn't have let my temper get out of hand. I'll try to be better, Sir." She heard him go quiet, but was not sure whether it was good or bad. He heaved a sigh,

"This is the point where I'm supposed to forgive you, I presume?" The silky tone seemed a little bit guarded. "Not if you don't want to, Sir. You know... I was just saying it, because, well... I shouldn't have said it... at all." She bit her lip, feeling his eyes on the back of her head. "I-" What ever he was going to say was cut off by Mum's voice.

"Ginny dear, there you are! Come along now! We have to hurry!" Ginny looked at her Mum and her heart sank as she saw the bags of book already paid for. "I was wondering if I could get this book as well." Ginny asked half hopefully, holding up the book. "Sorry Ginny, not this time. We have to go."

Ginny's face fell, she turned to see Professor Snape holding out his hand for the book. She handed it to him with an apologetic look, but his face remained impassive. Turning away before he could even put it back, Ginny glumly followed her Mum and Dad out of the shop.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. It belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Ginny loaded her arms up with the supplies her Mum and Dad had just purchased. Walking behind them, she looked back through the window to see Snape carrying a couple of books to the front counter. She found herself wishing she could have stayed to talk to him more. She turned her head away quickly when she saw him look up at her. She found her heart was racing though, she couldn't quite figure out why.

Following her Mum and Dad, her thoughts wandered back to the book, she had really hoped to get it. Sighing in dismay she looked up to see that they had arrived outside Madam Malkin's, Hagrid was standing outside talking to Harry, Ron and Hermione. From the serious looks on there faces she figured they had had a less than pleasant experience in the shop. _What's new?_ She thought to herself amusedly,_ trouble follows those three wherever they go._ Her mood lightened as she remembered the events of last year fondly.

"Everyone all right?" Mum asked, "Got your robes? Right then, we can pop in at the Apothecary and Eeylops on the way to Fred and George's-stick close, now..." Ginny bought all the necessary ingredients for the next year of potions and then some things extra that she convinced Mum and Dad was absolutely necessary.

But she didn't get anything at Eeylops, only looked around at all the owls in their cages. There was one tawny owl that caught her eye as it stared at her wherever she went in the shop. Finally, she went up to it before they left, it hooted softly in greeting to her. She smiled kindly at it and said "Hello to you too." Feeling foolish for talking to an owl. She looked at the tag hanging just below it's cage and was dismayed to find that it was already reserved for someone. She pressed her finger to the cage horizontally and the bird pressed it's beak to her finger and closed it's eyes. Ginny laughed lightly and moved her finger inside the cage to stroke the pretty bird's soft, feathery head.

Her moment was interrupted by her mother's voice calling to her from the entrance door. She smiled one last time at the bird and said "Good-bye." The owl hooted after her as she left, she looked back at it one last time and waved at it. They continued along the shops in search of Weasley's Wizard Weezes, Mum saying the shop numbers as they went and talking about how short they were on time. Ginny smiled at her Mum in amusement, she was so good at keeping track of everything, she noted admiringly.

Finally, they reached Fred and George's shop._ "Whoa,"_ said Ron, stopping in his tracks. Set against the dull, poster-muffled fronts everywhere else, The twins' windows hit the eyes like a fireworks display. People walking by did doubletakes looking back at the displays. A few stunned people came to a halt outside the shop, transfixed. The left-hand window was dazzlingly full of an assortment of things that revolved, popped, flashed, bounced and shrieked; Ginny's eyes hurt a little looking at it.

The right-hand poster was covered in a gigantic poster, purple like the ones like the Ministry, but emblazoned with flashing yellow letters:

**WHY ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT YOU-KNOW-WHO?** **YOU SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT U-NO-POO-** **THE CONSTIPATION SENSATION THAT'S GRIPPING THE NATION!**

Ginny grinned madly and heard Harry laugh. Mum gave a weak sort of moan, Ginny looked at her staring at the poster dumbfounded. Ginny had to bite her cheek to stop from laughing when she saw her Mum's lips silently mouthing the words "U-No-Poo." Ginny's eyes were watering from holding back her laugh.

"They'll be murdered in their beds!" Mum whispered. "No they won't!" Ron said, who, like Harry, was laughing. "This is brilliant!" He and Harry were the first ones in the shop. It was packed with customers; Ginny looked around at the place, not even bothering to wade through the mass of people blocking her way to the shelves. There were boxes piled to the ceiling. There were Skiving Snackboxes, the Nosebleed Nougats were all gone except one. There were bins of trick wands, some turning into rubber chickens or pairs of briefs when waved, others beating the user around the head and neck.

Ginny giggled at a boy who handed one to an unsuspecting friend. There were boxes of quills, which came in Self-Inking, Spell-Checking, and Smart -Answer varieties. Ginny passed a Reusable Hangman to stand by Hermione's side, "Patented Daydream Charms..." Hermione read aloud. Ginny looked over her shoulder at the box she was reading, it had a highly colored handsome youth on the back and a swooning girl on the deck of a pirate ship. "One simple incantation and you will enter a top-quality, highly realistic, thirty-minute daydream, easy to fit into the average school lesson and virtually undetectable (side effects include vacant expression and minor drooling). Not for sale to under sixteens."

Ginny's rebellious curiosity tempted her to get one anyway, but she decided to resist, she needed to learn all she could with what the future had in store. "You know," Hermione said, looking at Harry, "that really is extraordinary magic!" "For that, Hermione," Fred's voice said from behind them, "you can have one for free." They turned to see Fred beaming before them, wearing a set of magenta robes that clashed terribly with his flaming hair. Ginny wanted to look around a bit before talking to the twins, guessing she was going to hear it about her boyfriend. She wandered around looking at the different things.

She laughed when she saw a stand of card and rope tricks, Dad would love to see that. She continued until she saw a tub of something labelled EDIBLE DARK MARKS-THEY'LL MAKE ANYONE SICK! Ginny snorted, wondering what a Death Eater would think of that. Noticing a jar labelled INSTANT DARKNESS POWDER, she thought that would come in handy at some point. There was also the Decoy Detonators that she had heard Fred and George making when they were still living at the Burrow. Ginny felt a twinge of sadness at that, she missed having them around to talk to or just to bother when she was bored. She finally made her way back to the Patented Daydream Charms.

"Haven't you girls found our special WonderWitch products yet?" Fred asked. "Follow me ladies..." Near the window there was an array of violently pink product which a cluster of excited girls was giggling enthusiastically. Ginny and Hermione hung back warily. "There you go," Fred said proudly. "Best range of love potions you'll find anywhere." Ginny raised her eyebrow skeptically, knowing the twins weren't always the best at paying attention in Snape's class. "Do they work?" She asked, trying not to let her own exceptional potion-making skills make her snobby. "Certainly they work, for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the weight of the boy in question-"

"-and the attractiveness of the girl." George said, finishing Fred's sentence as usual as he suddenly reappeared at their side. "But we're not selling them to our sister," he added, suddenly stern, Ginny resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _Here it comes._ She thought, "not when she's already got about five boys on the go from what we've-" "Whatever you've heard from Ron is a big fat lie," Ginny said calmly, leaning forward to take a pink pot off the shelf, "What's this?" Her curiosity aiding her in her endeavor to change the subject. "Guaranteed ten-second pimple vanisher," said Fred.

"Excellent on everything from boils to blackheads, but don't change the subject. Are you or are you not currently going out with a boy called Dean Thomas?" "Yes I am," Ginny said patiently. "And last time I looked, he was definitely one boy, not five. What are those?" She asked, pointing at a number of little round balls of adorable fluffiness in shades of pink and purple, all rolling around the bottom of their cage and making cute high-pitched squeaking noises.

Ginny didn't even know what they were yet, and already she wanted one. "Pygmy Puffs," said George. "Miniature Puffskeins, we can't breed them fast enough. So what about Michael Corner?" "I dumped him, he was a bad loser," Ginny answered him, unable to resist putting her finger in the cage to touch the creatures' cute little fluffy fur. They all crowded around her finger, only adding to their adorableness.

"They're really cute!" Ginny said with a smile. "They're fairly cuddly, yes," conceded Fred. Ginny could hear the 'but' sentence coming, her annoyance mounting. "But you're moving through boyfriends a bit fast, aren't you?" Ginny turned to look at him, hands on her hips. She glared at Fred, she had had enough of her brothers sticking their noses in her love life. "It's none of your business. And I'll thank_ you_," She turned her temper on Ron, who had just appeared next to George, arms full of merchandise, "not to tell tales about me to these two!" Fred turned and started to talking to Ron.

It seemed that the sudden changing of the subject was the closest she was going to come to some agreement. Ron got mad at what Fred had to say to him, dropping several boxes and making a rude gesture to him. Ginny smirked when she saw Mum come in just in time to see it. "If I see you do that again I'll jinx your fingers together," Mum threatened him, Ginny hoped she would. "Mum, can I have Pygmy Puff?" Ginny asked her immediately, "A what?" Mum asked, wary of anything generated by Fred and George. "Look, they're so sweet..." Mum moved closer to see the Pygmy Puffs.

Ginny noticed Harry, Ron and Hermione seeming a little bit distracted._ Trouble is calling their names, again._ She thought, engaging her Mum in a deeper conversation so she wouldn't notice the three of them disappear. She was delighted when Mum agreed to get her the Pygmy Puff. She tried to keep her Mum occupied for as long as possible, but as time stretched on and the trio still didn't reappear, Mum finally noticed.

Ginny trailed behind her Mum helplessly, as she frantically searched the shop multiple times for them. Dad was also searching, "I'm sure they're around here somewhere." Ginny said, trying to be reassuring. She was certain that wherever they were, they were completely fine. "Have you checked the back, yet?" Ginny asked in what she hoped was a helpful sounding suggestion. Just when Mum was about to have a break down, they appeared again. All three insisting they were in the back the whole time. Ginny smirked, she could have come up with a better answer than _that. _

Upon returning home, Ginny noticed that Harry looked as if whatever escapade they went on still troubled him. She was dying to know what it was that they did, but didn't press the subject on Hermione's advice. Ginny scanned over her school books for the next year, hoping to find something interesting enough to avoid going down into the kitchen and getting roped into wedding plans with _Phlegm._ On the last day, Ginny finally had to go down to get her freshly laundered clothes from Mum. Phlegm was down there of course, talking about her_ 'vonderful vedding planz'_, she spotted Ginny immediately and launched into her ideas for her as a bridesmaid.

Ginny smiled through gritted teeth to avoid grimacing. She grabbed her fresh laundry and hightailed it out of there. On the landing she spotted Harry on his way downstairs, "I wouldn't go in the kitchen just now," she warned him. "There's a lot of Phlegm around." Harry smiled at her, "I'll be careful not to slip in it." He continued on his way and Ginny shuddered in annoyance, thinking of her future as a bridesmaid.

Ginny packed her trunk carefully, including the muggle music device Hermione had bought her for her last birthday. She hoped she could get it to run off of magic instead of the muggle thing electricity that Hermione was talking about. Ginny secretly took after her father a little bit, in his love of all things muggle.

She personally loved their music and arts. She had tried to learn some of their more modern dancing with some success. One thing she had shared with Fred and George was a muggle group called Monty Python. She had enjoyed watching it with them. She smiled at the memory, thinking how much she loved her twin brothers.

The next morning everything went fairly smoothly, Ginny had her trunk ready the night before and was free to help Hermione with the grumpy Crookshanks, who absolutely despised his carrying cage. Being an Animagus fox, Ginny sympathized with him, she would hate to be cooped up in a cage. She also had Arnold, her purple Pygmy Puff in his own cage. With everything all ready, and to Ginny's great relief, Phlegm was not coming with them.

She watched critically as Phlegm said a throaty "Au revoir 'Arry." Kissing him good-bye, Ginny saw Ron hurry forward looking hopeful but she stuck her foot out and tripped him. He fell, sprawling in the dust at Phlegm's feet. Ginny smirked in evil satisfaction, noticing Hermione's face mirroring her own. Ron, furious, red-faced and dirt spattered, hurried into the waiting car without saying good-bye.

Ginny slid in after Harry and Hermione and they were off. Once they arrived at King's Cross, they were met by two grim looking Aurors and they all made their way to the barrier. After some slight disagreement between Harry and the Auror next to him, they had all made their way through the barrier. Ginny kissed her Mum and Dad goodbye and boarded the train. Ginny went in search of Dean, whom she had promised to sit with on the train ride to Hogwarts.

She bumped into some friends and chatted for a moment, Harry even came by and wanted to share a compartment. She politely declined saying she was already going to sit with Dean. She was walking down the corridor when Dean grabbed her arm and pulled her into a compartment. Ginny was expecting Dean, but the way he pulled her arm reminded her of someone else with tall stature and dark hair. She blinked for a minute, then smiled when she realized it was Dean.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him with vigor. He responded happily but was still a bit chaste about it. This annoyed Ginny greatly, she pulled back and glared at him. "Dean, what's wrong?" He looked at her innocently, "I don't know what you mean." Ginny raised an eyebrow skeptically, Dean looked uncomfortable. "Honest Ginny, there's nothing wrong, don't look at me like that! Merlin's beard, you look like Snape when you do that!" Ginny snorted, looking at Dean incredulously. "Did you just say I look like Snape?" He flushed in embarrassment, "well not _look_ like Snape, obviously 'cause that would be gross, but you do that thing he does with the eyebrow..." He trailed off when he noticed Ginny's look of non-comprehension.

"What?" He asked, Ginny wasn't sure what to make of the situation at hand. "Snape's not gross." Ginny blurted out, Dean looked at her like she had gone mental. Feeling like this conversation was not going anywhere good, she just rolled her eyes and kissed him again. But he was still acting like she was something delicate and she felt like she needed some air. Telling him as much, she left the compartment feeling a little bit strange and frustrated.

Ginny passed Pansy Parkinson, who was adjusting her robes as she left a compartment. She looked down at Ginny, preparing to say something nasty. Ginny gave her the 'Snape look' and she shut her mouth and walked away. Ginny smirked, but her amusement was short lived, she entered her compartment again and Zacharias Smith came up to her. "Hey Ginny, are you going to continue the D.A. this year?" He asked, "I don't know, you'd have to ask Harry." She answered, "Well, don't you know?" He continued, "No, I don't_ obviously_ since I just told you I didn't." Ginny responded, getting annoyed. "Well how come you don't know? He's friends with your brother isn't he? Shouldn't you know?" He kept on, Ginny had reached her breaking point.

"NO!" She yelled, sending a Bat-Bogey hex at him with a vengeance. "Arrrgh!" He yelled, stumbling back and running away, occasionally bumping into walls and people as he ran. She was standing there admiring her work as it ran away screaming when a voice behind her made her jump and spin around, wand up. Finding herself face to face with a walrus in clothes that she assumed was the Professor Slughorn Harry had met over the summer. He smiled at her, "Hello! That was quite an impressive hex you did there! Please, join my guests and I in my compartment for lunch!" He requested, not sure what else to do, Ginny accepted and followed him to his compartment.

She walked in to see about five or six people already there. She made her way to the corner seat and to her great dismay, Slughorn sat next to her. "Tell me dear, have you met Harry Potter?" He asked her jovially, "Of course I know Harry, he and my brother are best mates." Ginny said carefully, not sure about this Slughorn character. "Really? Your brother? Which one dare I ask?" He pressed on, Ginny looked him up and down. "Ron, he's the second youngest." Ginny responded, feeling like a cornered animal, literally.

To Ginny's great relief, the door to the compartment slid open. Harry and Neville walked in and Slughorn jumped up to greet them. Ginny breathed a sigh of relief and listened to Slughorn's conversation with Harry. She grimaced at Harry when Slughorn started talking about her again, but thankfully it was only in passing. Slughorn was talking to the various people in the compartment, Ginny listened idly.

He finally started on about Harry, and was talking about him having "powers beyond the ordinary" when Zabini did a little cough, Ginny thought he sounded like a girl. But it irked her all the same. "Yeah Zabini, because _you're_ so talented... at posing..." She burst out angrily, glaring at him around Slughorn's belly. "You want to careful, Blaise! I saw this young lady perform the most marvelous Bat-Bogey Hex as I passed her carriage! I wouldn't cross her!" Slughorn's warning went unheeded as Zabini gave her a contemptuous look. There was a fair amount of small talk, especially about Harry. Ginny interjected once more and then stayed silent.

Finally Slughorn realized it was already dark and concluded the little sit down. Ginny was relieved to say the least. She told Harry and Neville what happened with Slughorn. Harry was saying something but stopped mid-sentence. "I'll see you two later," He said under his breath as he pulled his Invisibility Cloak out of his bag and flung it over himself. But what're you-?" Neville asked. "Later!" Whispered Harry as he disappeared.

Ginny shrugged and the two of them walked off to find a compartment. Once the train had stopped, Ginny filed out along with everyone else. She found Hermione and Ron, but Harry was not with them. This caused Ginny some disquiet, the three of them were inseparable. She, Neville, Ron and Hermione got in a carriage together. But all of them were too worried about Harry to talk very much.

Ginny was so anxious about Harry's disappearance, the first thing she did after exiting the carriage and entering the castle was look for Professor Snape. She found him filing into the dining hall with everyone else. Ginny ran up to him and pulled him aside, she wasn't even sure why he let her. She just chalked it up to how worried she looked and him being a good teacher. Once they were a little bit away from everybody, she turned to look at him and was a little taken aback by his proximity and dark intense eyes. She opened her mouth to talk, but all the words sort of tumbled out.

"IthinksomethingbadhappenedtoHarryhewasonthetrainwithusbuthtendisappearedandnownoonecanfindhim!"

She said in one breath, she tried to continue but he held up his hand signaling her to stop. She bit her lip, anxious and embarrassed. "Breathe Miss Weasley," she inhaled sharply, and held it. His mouth twitched, something like amusement danced in his eyes, "Exhale," She let out her breath in a big whoosh.

He coughed a little, pressing his lips together tightly, giving Ginny the impression he was trying not to laugh, or that her breath smelled really bad. She could never really tell with Snape, but the look in his eyes confirm it was the first. He waited for her breathing to go back to normal.

"Now, again, slowly." Ginny took another breath, "I think something bad happened to Harry he was on the train with us but then disappeared and now no one can find him!" She said finally, her worry making her sound sad. His face soured the moment she said Harry's name. Her hand was still on his sleeve and she dropped it to his hand, her other hand gripping the other side of his hand.

"Please Sir, I know you don't like him but he's my friend and I'm worried something bad has happened to him!" She begged him, he looked at her for a moment and she could see the conflict in his eyes. She squeezed his hand softly, silently pleading with him. Finally he sighed in defeat, "I'll look into it. But you should go to dinner, and don't worry about Potter, he doesn't deserve your worry." He said quietly, kindly almost.

She smiled brightly, "Thank you Sir! I won't worry now that I know you'll help!" She almost hugged him, but he took the hand she was gripping and turned her towards the Great Hall, with a little push on her back. She continued on her way but looked back at him, he turned his head away just as she did. She continued into the Great Hall, feeling strangely light and in good spirits. Sitting between Neville and Dean, Ginny ate her food happily. Dean and Seamus were chatting about Quidditch and Ginny was talking to Neville about Herbology, but she found her eyes wandering up to where Snape sat.

He looked up when she looked over at him, he held her gaze for a moment before dropping it to his dinner. Ginny wanted to go up and ask him if he'd heard anything about Harry, but suddenly he rose from his seat and walked out of the Great Hall. Ginny was sad that he left, but hoped that it had something to do with finding Harry. She felt like the seconds were hours, until finally Harry showed up to dinner still dressed in his muggle clothes. He sat down between Hermione and Ron, his shirt covered in blood.

Hermione remedied that immediately and then he asked her about his nose, she didn't see anything wrong with it? What happened to him? Hermione was asking him what happened but he only told her he'd tell her later. Glancing towards Ginny, Dean, Neville and Seamus looking serious. Ginny didn't need to read minds to reach the conclusion that her prying ears were not wanted, nor would they be hearing anything now. She turned her attention away, looking over at Snape again.

He was in a discussion with Dumbledore and didn't look back at her. Ginny felt oddly disappointed, she didn't know what she was expecting but it wasn't that. Snape was talking to Dumbledore about plans for this year's student body. He was desperate to talk to him about something other than_ socks_ when in public. He felt the Weasley girl's eyes on him, again. He was not sure what to make of her, she was far more intelligent than that Potter boy, but insisted on being friends with him.

Even that Granger girl was more intelligent and talented than Potter, but Miss Weasley had a charming way of creeping under Snape's defenses. She was clever, sneaky, powerful, brave, kind and hard-working, he had seen her grow from a shy little girl, last of the Weasley children to this potential force to be reckoned with and the temper to match. He knew from her behavior towards him she was more than a little fond of him.

This was no surprise, he had seen it growing in her mind over the years, but what was surprising was that he found he didn't mind her, she was not anything like Lily besides the normal Gryffindor traits. Yet, she was smart enough to be worth talking to and clever enough to nearly out-wit him. He would never tell her, or anyone for that matter, but she was his best student. Ever. In all his fifteen years as a Hogwarts professor, he had never encountered someone so gifted at potions as well as everything else from what he had heard. Dumbledore was saying something, and Snape was pulled from his thoughts. "What?" Dumbledore smiled, eyes twinkling. "I was saying that Miss Weasley seems to have taken quite an interest in you tonight. She seems to have more attention on you than anyone else."

Snape stiffened a little, feeling uncomfortable with Dumbledore noticing. "I had not noticed." He replied curtly. "Really? I thought I saw you look back at her earlier." Dumbledore said, sounding bemused. Snape glared at him darkly, "I don't know what you mean." Dumbledore smiled serenely, but did not press the subject any further. For that Snape was glad, he wasn't entirely sure what was going on himself but he certainly didn't want to share it with Dumbledore, or anyone for that matter. He would be more than content to keep it just between the two of them.

He glanced down at her just as she was getting up from the Gryffindor table. She was smiling at her friends and laughing at something someone said. Snape almost wished he could be there with her, one of her peers. A friend maybe, or maybe something- He would not complete that thought. It was not right for him to think that about her. She was so young, he wondered what would have happened had she been in Hogwarts with him. Or if they were around the same age even...

Author's note: So, I'm trying to space out my writing. Forgive me if it's all one giant paragraph. I'm still getting used to how this works. Please let me know if you have any helpful suggestions.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Just as Ginny was leaving to tuck in early, Dumbledore stood to finally make some announcements. Dean tugged her sleeve to make her sit down again. Ginny was half listening and half straining to hear what Harry, Ron and Hermione were talking about. She heard that joke items from Fred and George's shop were banned in school, which was disappointing but not surprising, considering last year.

Ginny remembered the twins' exit with pride. But what really caught her attention was the new teaching positions._Slughorn_, not Snape, was going to be teaching Potions this year. Dumbledore announced that Snape was going to be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year! Harry yelled "No!" at the announcement, but Ginny was still too stunned to react to the news properly. She saw Snape give a lazy wave as the Slytherins clapped for him. But other than that, he really didn't give a response to the news. Ginny thought he look a little happy, Ginny would have been happy for him, but she overheard Harry telling Ron and Hermione how the job was jinxed and pointed out how nobody ever lasted more than a year in the position. This made Ginny's blood run cold. Harry was hoping for Snape's death, but Ginny was suddenly determined that she would not let that happen to him. She looked towards Snape, her determination plain on her features. He glanced over her way, eyes sliding over her just like every other student, but shot back to look at her when he noticed her fierce look. He wrinkled his brow slightly, tilting his head to one side in a questioning gaze.

Remembering Harry said Snape was a Legilimens, she held his gaze and recalled what Harry said about the teaching position being jinxed. His eyes narrowed slightly and he looked mad. She wasn't sure if it was because Harry said it or what Harry said. He looked away and didn't look back. Ginny wanted to tell him to be careful, to make him promise to be cautious or anything of that sort. But she knew Snape would not do that, least of all for her, a Gryffindor student and fifteen year old girl. That thought depressed her very quickly, and she turned and left the Great Hall in a rush with that reality crashing down on her.

That night Ginny had another dream, the first one for a while._She was standing over him, the terror in his eyes making it all the more fun. She moved her head from side to side in a hypnotic fashion, watching with relish as his gaze became unfocused. She let his eyes gloss over completely, then she lunged. Striking with lightning speed, again and again. Then He called, she released her victim and slithered towards him. She lifted her gaze to his-_ Ginny woke up screaming. The images still swimming just behind her eyes. She shuddered, ripping the blankets off her and jumping out of bed. She slipped her shoes on and left her dormitory, and all but ran out of the portrait hole.

She was halfway down the third staircase before she remembered Dumbledore saying how students were not allowed out of their dorms at night. She stopped mid-step on the staircase._Bloody hell._ Ginny thought, pondering her situation. She was certainly not ready to go back to bed, at all. But she didn't want to get detention for being out of bed on her very first night back. She decided she would just not get caught, and tiptoed down the rest of the stairs to the ground floor. She needed to get out into the open air. She felt as if she would suffocate if she stayed inside a moment longer. Three-quarters of the way to the front doors she heard footsteps. Beginning to panic, she pressed herself against the wall closest to her. The footsteps were almost upon her when she realized how stupid she was being, hiding up against the wall when all she had to do was change into her Animagus form.

Shifting into a fox, she looked up to see Professor Snape and a shorter, fat and bald man walking together as if they were two old friends, taking an evening stroll. Pricking up her ears with interest, Ginny slunk away from the wall and trailed behind them. They walked in silence for quite a while, neither man saying a word. Silently, Ginny followed. They were heading for the Forbidden Forest. Ginny was groaning inwardly as her small form made it quite a challenge to keep up with Snape's long strides. Finally they reached the Forest, and Ginny darted behind a tree as Snape looked back. Moving around the tree she poked her head out from around the other side of the tree. Snape had turned his attention to the man.

"Why have you come to Hogwarts to speak to me? I thought we agreed specifically that you would stay away from here?" He said harshly to the man.

"I'm nearly done with the potion, when are we going to execute the plan?" The man replied, his accent vaguely French but his voice was strangely familiar.

"I don't know, when I have time. And speaking of time, I believe there is another component to this plan that we still need." Snape answered, sounding expectant towards the end. The shorter man grinned and help up something shiny and gold.

Snape's eyes widened in shock, "How did you get that?" The man seemed quite satisfied with himself,

"I nicked last year during the fight." Snape's eyebrows shot up, surprise making his features a lot less severe.

"What do you mean, 'nicked it'?" He asked carefully,

"Well, you know, before I found... Everyone, I was searching different doors and rooms... And I kind of stumbled upon this room with a whole bunch of half made time turners and a few whole ones, and I nicked the biggest one." The man said happily, as if it was just that simple.

Snape blinked at him a few times before replying. "Not bad, what does it do?"

The man sighed, "Well, it gives the wearer the ability to go back in time." He said, as if talking to a child. Snape's lip curled in annoyance.

"Obviously, but how much time does it turn back?" The man grinned madly,

"Years. And it can turn it forward years as well. Actually, it can turn years, months, weeks, days, hours, and possibly, though not positively, seconds." Snape was silent for a long time. Slipping a little closer, Ginny could see the look of hope in Snape's eyes.

"Do you think... We could... Save her?" His voice raw with emotion.

The man looked grave, "If we save them, it could completely mess up the future. And then everybody could die." The sadness between the two was almost physically painful.

Snape sighed, "We could do it like last time... You know, with the last person... Who couldn't be saved..." A knowing look passed between them. The man stroked the sides of his face down to his chin like he had a non-existent beard.

"This is something we could ponder, later... When the potion is finished, and we brewed some other potions, that might possibly be useful." He said curiously. Snape smiled in a mix hope and deviousness. The man shrugged his shoulders.

"So, what's new with you? Have you found a special lady yet?" He asked, Snape rolled his eyes.

"Why would _I_ have a 'special lady'?" The man smirked,

"I don't know, just making conversation I guess... So? Who is she?" He prodded, Snape looked a little alarmed. "What gives you the impression that I have someone?"

The man grinned wider, "Because you didn't say 'no' and because you're a lot less snarky." Snape stared at him, "Come on mate, we're here in the forest, no one's going to hear." The man coaxed Snape, gesturing to his surroundings.

After a pause, Snape gave in. "I don't know, sometimes I think 'maybe' but she so unavailable-unattainable actually, in so many different ways, that I think it would be folly to even consider it. It_is_ folly actually, I should not be thinking that about her." His confession sounded nervous and frustrated. Ginny's heart twisted painfully in her gut, who was this woman who captivated his attention. The two carried on, oblivious to Ginny's silent pain.

"Who is she? She must be pretty damn special to catch _your_ attention." The man said, losing his French accent all together.

Ginny was confused, she knew that voice, but she couldn't for the life of her remember where, or _who_ it was. She sniffed at his general direction, but could only make out the scent of his cologne and the smell of Snape.

"Well, I try not to think about her too much..." Snape continued awkwardly, sounding like a shy young man. She looked at him, his expression was softer than she'd ever seen it.

"I've just found myself exceptionally fond of her... And... Protective?" Snape trailed off in uncertainty. Ginny was just about to burst with jealous rage and then despair. Her heart was twisting so painfully, she whimpered out loud. Both men's heads shot in her direction, wands pointed dangerously. Ginny's eyes bulged as she realized how stupid she had been to let her emotions get out of hand. Shrinking back, with her tail between her legs, she tried to look as submissive as possible. Hoping she could make a break for it, she slowly backed away.

She made it a few steps, turned and tried to bolt, but was scooped up in one large hand. To her horror, she was turned to stare Snape straight in the eye. Her pulse was racing and she squirmed in his grasp, fear overtaking her human side. Pure animal instinct took over as she yipped and snarled, biting at his fingers and face. But it was no use, she was caught, and Snape was going to be furious.

"C'mon mate, it's just a little fox. Put it down, I'm sure it was just hungry." The man with Snape said compassionately.

"Right, just a little fox who just so happens to have heard our entire conversation." Snape said suspiciously, Ginny whimpered in fear. Snape was A LOT more intimidating as a little fox.

"Right, but I saw that fox arrive just a few minutes ago. It can't have heard our entire conversation if it wasn't even here for most of it." The man said carefully, Ginny was starting to think this man might have known she was there all along.

"I don't believe that." Snape growled darkly, Ginny heard a finality in his tone that made feel as if her fate was sealed. She whimpered and cried, hoping that Snape would take pity on a small helpless animal. No such luck, Snape threw her to the ground and sent a jet of white light at her. Feeling her body shudder, she forced her legs to carry her into a thick bush before she started to change. Making it to the other side of the bush just as she turned back to fully human.

"Show yourself!" Snape snarled in anger, Ginny flinched and hunched down a little lower. The faint crunch of leaves told her that Snape was approaching. Fear gripping her, she looked around desperately for something to help her and bitterly regretting leaving her wand in her dorm. Suddenly there was a savage howl from a ways behind them. Ginny was afraid to look, in case she accidently looked back and saw Snape looking back at her. There was another howl, a lot closer and more menacing. She heard the swirl of leaves under Snape's cloak as he turned away from her, Ginny almost gasped in relief until someone appeared in front of her.

A hand clamped over her mouth before she could make a sound. She squinted and just made out the shape of Hermione's bushy hair. Hermione put a finger to her lips and motioned for Ginny to follow her. Ginny nodded and they silently tiptoed away. Once they were a safe distance away, Hermione grabbed Ginny's hand and they ran deeper into the forest. They ran until they couldn't continue any longer, both of them stumbling to a halt and doubling over to gasp for breath.

When Ginny could breathe again, she turned to Hermione. "Thanks, how did you know that I was here?"

Hermione smiled kindly, "I couldn't sleep either." Was all she said, but Ginny understood. She was in the common room probably when Ginny ran by, then followed her.

"Why were you following Snape?" She asked, Ginny blushed scarlet and looked at her feet. "I was curious... I guess."

She sounded lame even to herself and was certain Hermione didn't believe her. But Hermione didn't pry, and for that Ginny was grateful. They walked around for about an hour before they turned to head back out of the forest. Ginny couldn't help but ponder over the conversation she had just heard._What did Snape want with a time-turner? And who was it that he wanted to go back and save? And more importantly, who was this 'unattainable' woman that caught Snape's attention?_ Ginny's eyes prickled at the thought that he was interested in someone who wasn't her.

She huffed and shook her head,_what am I thinking? I'm dating Dean!_ She admonished herself mentally, Hermione grabbed her arm suddenly breaking her out of her thoughts. She look at her in confusion and Hermione pointed to the tree that Ginny was about to walk into. Ginny gave her a sheepish look and Hermione looked amused.

"You want to tell me what you were thinking of that would make you run into a tree?" She asked knowingly, Ginny blushed.

"Not... Totally, it wouldn't be... A good idea... T-to voice those thoughts aloud." She said very quietly, Hermione smiled at her friend sympathetically.

"Well, in that case, I'll tell you something really stupid. I miss Sirius, a lot. He and I, were always at odds with each other. But now that he's gone, I_miss_ him_so_ much." Hermione squeaked emotionally,

"I can't hardly stand it, I wish he was here. Every time Harry's got some idea in his head about something or other, I think, wouldn't Sirius love to be here? Or when I'm studying over the summer, I can almost hear his voice saying 'relax Hermione, you work too hard' like he used to. And I_wish_ I had gone back for him, or stayed close to him during the Battle..." Hermione's voice got increasingly shrilly until it crack and she went silent.

Ginny felt bad for her friend and slung an arm over her shoulder to comfort her. Hermione sobbed quietly, as they continued to walk out of the forest. They were nearing the edge of the forest now.

"I just wish Sirius was here, alive. Not just for Harry, but for me too." Hermione's sob turned into a gasp of horror and Ginny looked up to see the short, bald and fat man that was with Snape. He was there alone thankfully, but he stood there with his arms folded, staring at them.

His stern look softened when he saw Hermione crying, he looked a little sad, as if he wanted to comfort her. "Come now love, don't cry." He said gently, Hermione's eyes widened then narrowed as she stared at him.

He smiled slightly, and Ginny watched as something unspoken passed between them. Hermione sniffed a little and then spoke,

"What are you going to do to us?" Her tone was guarded but had an odd undertone to it. The man smiled kindly at her.

"Nothing, but I would suggest getting better at being aware of your surroundings if you're going to insist on sneaking around at night. I wouldn't want you girls running into trees and such..." He said, Ginny paled, feeling extremely unnerved._Has he really been following us that long?_ He smirked at Ginny as if reading her thoughts.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion, sir." Hermione said quietly, the man only smiled and shook his head. "Are you going to tell Snape it was us?" Ginny asked, getting straight to the point.

He looked as if he was pondering it briefly, "No, I don't think I will. I believe you girls have learned your lesson, no need to get an irate Snape involved. That man values his privacy quite a lot." He answered finally, still quite calm and cheery.

"What's your name sir?" Hermione asked quickly, he looked at her for a moment, deciding whether or not to answer. Finally he stuck out his hand, "Monsieur Marchand D' Oeuf, at your service." He said with a dramatic bow, his French accent coming back in full force.

Hermione smirked and put her hand in his, he kissed the back of it. He offered his hand to Ginny but she only placed her fingers around his index finger and shook his hand before letting go very quickly. She did not trust this man with the fake French accent.

He smiled despite her attitude, "You girls should go soon, it's getting late." His voice quiet but warning.

Hermione nodded and turned to Ginny, who glanced at D' Oeuf suspiciously. He took the hint and strolled away. Ginny waited until he was out of sight, before turning to Hermione and changing into a fox. Hermione changed into a dog and the two of them quietly made their way back up the Hogwarts grounds to the castle. They barely made it up the steps when the door flew open and Severus Snape stepped out.

He look at the two animals with an angry expression on his face. The two of them stood there, frozen. Hermione, in an act of pure boldness that could have bordered on stupidity, (had it not worked) launched herself at Snape. He was caught by surprise as her front paws slammed into his chest. He fell back and her back paws got him in the solar plexus. There was a loud whoosh and crack as the wind was knocked out of him and his head hit the floor. He didn't get up.

Hermione scrambled through the door that was being held open by Snape's body. Ginny followed suit, lightly hopping over Snape and landing in something wet on the other side. She stopped and looked down, in the pale moonlight, she could see crimson blood trickling from Snape's head. Alarm made her freeze. He was hurt, bleeding, and unconscious. She couldn't just leave him like that. Hermione seemed to feel bad too as she came back to Ginny's side. They listened carefully for any faint sound and when nothing was heard, they changed back into human form.

Hermione had smartly brought her wand. She pointed it at Snape's head and whispered a spell. Immediately his head stopped bleeding and the wound closed up. Ginny pushed the door open a little more and stuffed her shoe under it to keep it in place. Then with Hermione's help, they dragged his body out of the doorway and over to the side a little bit. Ginny grabbed her shoe and let the door close. They suddenly realized they didn't know where to put him. After much whispering debate, they decided to find his living quarters somehow. Ginny chewed her lip, how where they going to find his quarters?

Hermione was just as stumped, "Do I detect a pair of mademoiselles in distress?" Said a French accented voice. They turned around and vaguely made out the outline of a bald head.

Hermione smiled slightly, "Oui Monsieur." Ginny raised an eyebrow, as if to say 'really?' Hermione shrugged, "You wouldn't know how to find Professor Snape's living quarters would you?" She asked hopefully, Marchand (Sirius) nodded,

"I do, But I have sworn an oath that I will not reveal the whereabouts of it." He said, Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but he continued.

"Although, I can't be held responsible if someone followed me without my knowledge..." Ginny smirked and Hermione smiled mischievously,

"Well we wouldn't _dare_ follow you to a_teacher's_ living quarters." Hermione said not-so-innocently, Ginny felt as if Fred and George might have rubbed off on her a very little bit.

The man shrugged nonchalantly, slid his hands in his pockets and strolled away. Ginny grabbed one of Snape's arms and put it over her shoulder, Hermione doing the same and as one they lifted unconscious Snape. Hermione let out a groan as she struggled to support his surprisingly heavy weight. Ginny grunted with effort as well, noticing his arms were not as skinny as they had always looked with his billowing robes. Too stubborn to give in and say he was too heavy, Ginny continued walking forward. Hermione having no choice but to continue as well.

After a long hard drag through the dungeons, they finally arrived at Snape's door. Or wall more likely, Ginny could just make out a strange pattern in the stone bricks. Marchand waved his wand in a slow snake-like figure in front of the wall, then tapped three certain stones. Ginny committed it to memory for future reference. The wall shuddered, and then swung inward to become a door. Ginny and Hermione dragged Snape inside. There was a distinct Snape smell that Ginny found comforting somehow.

The sides of some walls were covered in bookshelves, three specific walls to be exact. Ginny could hear Hermione's little gasps of awe as they moved closer to the bookshelves. Ginny felt the need to steer this load since Hermione was too busy admiring the books. She looked around and found a little sofa, to her surprise it was a deep Slytherin green. It looked quite cushy even, with a little black carved wood coffee table to go with it. It look worn and old, but in good shape. Ginny maneuvered herself so her back was facing the sofa and Hermione mirrored her on the other side. On the count of three, they plopped down on the sofa.

Hermione heaved a sigh of relief as she pushed Snape's arm off of her. This caused Snape to fall over on Ginny, who squeaked with the unexpected movement. She found herself with Snape's head on her shoulder as she was pressed sideways on the sofa. Hermione pulled on Snape's other shoulder with all her might, causing him to flop the other way. Hermione jumped away as he hit the seat cushion and started to slide off of the sofa.

Finally free, Ginny dashed to catch him and push him back on the sofa. He groaned, finally starting to come to. Ginny and Hermione quickly ran to the door and Marchand appeared behind them to shut it, a bottle of firewhiskey in his hand. Once the door was fully shut, the two witches carefully made their way to Gryffindor Tower, bid each other good night and went to bed. Ginny's dreams were filled with Snape and his sofa. Sometimes he was getting mad at her for being there, other times he was happy she was there.

Snape woke up with a splitting headache, he looked around blearily to find himself on his sofa. There was a half empty bottle of firewhiskey on the table in front of him. There was a hairless dog sprawled out on the floor some distance in front of him. He groaned loudly as his head throbbed, waking up the dog a little. He growled at the sight of the damn dog, sprawled out on_his_ floor. With a growl of pain and irritation, he swiped up the bottle and threw it as hard as he could at the dog.

It missed him and hit the wall right above him *CRASH* the dog jumped up with a yelp and looked around. He saw Snape and then shifted back into Marchand (Sirius). He stood there for a moment, looking between the broken bottle and Snape as if he couldn't quite comprehend what had happened. He finally seemed to realize that Snape threw the bottle at him.

He blinked a few times, "well that wasn't very nice." He stated matter-of-factly. Snape growled in pain and Marchand went over to him, faint smile playing on his lips.

"Well I hope you've learned your lesson." Sirius said, putting his hands on his hips in a poor imitation of Molly Weasley. Snape closed his eyes for a minute, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What do you mean?" He said irritably, the smile on Sirius's face only increasing his ire.

"You drank two and a half bottles of firewhiskey last night, I just couldn't stop you!" He said dramatically.

Snape didn't believe him, not for one minute. There was no way that he would drink that much alcohol for any reason. Sirius was up to something. Heaving a sigh, he played along.

"Oh Merlin, that was rash. What reason did I give for doing this?" He inquired calmly, making Sirius pause and look at him in suspicion.

"You didn't give a reason, by the time I got here you were already two bottles into it. By that time you were mumbling incoherently." Snape quirked an eyebrow,

"So good of you to stay with me." Snape said, still as calm as ever.

Sirius's face started showing signs of trepidation, "Yeah, well, couldn't leave a bloke all alone with that much alcohol in him. It's just not right, you know. But now that you're awake, and obviously feeling better I think I'll just be heading out..." Sirius said, casually walking towards the door.

"What? Leaving so soon? Tsk tsk, Black, I think you should stay a little longer. Tell me a little more about what happened last night." Snape said silkily.

Sirius smiled tightly, "No, I think I've stayed in this greasy bat cave long enough, thank you." With that he headed for the door.

"Who was the fox? And that other dog? The bitch?" Snape called to him. Sirius froze in his tracks, then turned around with genuine confusion.

"What other dog? There was no other dog, just the fox." Snape shook his head very slightly so as to not aggravate his head. "No, there was a female dog there as well. I thought maybe you sent her."

Sirius looked surprised, "I didn't send anyone. I don't know of anyone else who is an unregistered dog Animagus, as far as I know that's just me." His quiet tone made Snape almost believe him.

"So how did I get here?" Snape dared him to tell a lie.

Sirius heaved a big sigh, "You caught them at the front doors, and they jumped you. You fell back and hit your head, and they disappeared. I didn't see where they went, I was too busy getting your heavy ass here. Didn't think you'd like waking up to students looking at you..." He trailed off, Snape vaguely remembered something like that.

He inhaled, about to say something and caught a faint flowery scent. He sniffed a little, following the smell to his clothes. Grabbing the front of his robes, he held it up to his nose and inhaled deeply. He rifled through his robes until he found his wand, he conjured a little jar and waved at his robes. The scent floated into the little jar and he put a stopper in it. Tucking it into his robes he looked up at Sirius somewhat blandly,

"You lied to me." He stated, Sirius pressed his lips together.

"How so?" He countered and Snape glared at him.

"If _you_ were the one who brought me here, why do I have the smell of a girl on me?" He asked in a low voice that said he meant business, Sirius smiled as if he welcomed the unspoken threat in Snape's tone.

"I dunno, maybe you were cuddling a flower?" Sirius joked, Snape scowled as his patience started to stretch thin.

"Is that the best you've got? 'Cuddling a flower?" Snape growled, Sirius almost laughed.

"Yeah, why not? I don't know what kind of weird fetishes you have." Sirius said with a shrug. His lips twitched as he struggled to keep a straight face. Snape was about to hex him. Sirius grinned as if he was hoping he would. They stared each other for a minute, Snape gripping his wand tightly and Sirius daring him to try.

*CRASH*

The two men looked to the door where the sound came from. Snape got up carefully and went to the door, He cracked it open to find Peeves assaulting a third year Slytherin girl. Snape scowled, firing a spell at Peeves who yelled as he fell through the wall and didn't reappear. He turned to the girl, who looked at him with big grey eyes that looked almost purple in the dim light.

"Go back to bed, it's after curfew. You know that you're not supposed to be out after curfew." He said calmly and gently. She opened her mouth to say something but Snape gave her a significant look. She snapped her mouth shut and nodded. She bid him good night quietly and left. He shut the door and turned back to Sirius, who looked at him curiously.

Snape paused for a moment, "My niece." He said simply. Sirius looked at him confused,

"But you don't have any siblings." Snape shrugged and said nothing. Sirius looked at him a moment longer and then dropped it.

"Well, then in that case. I have to go, if I'm going to complete that potion and such." He said nonchalantly, hoping Snape had forgotten about how he'd gotten to his quarters. Snape rolled his eyes and nodded, not pressing the subject about the smell. He was certain that Sirius was _not_ going to tell him and so he resolved to find out by himself.

The next day, Ginny's first class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. She bumped into Luna on her way and smiled.

"Morning Luna." She said, feeling exceptionally nervous today and surprisingly not tired from her excursion last night. Luna gave her a dreamy smile in return,

"Morning Ginny, the snorkaks are attacking people now. There was blood at the front doors this morning." She said, Ginny's insides froze.

"Ginny, you look ill. Did the snorkak get you?" Luna asked, "Er, no... I'm just not feeling to well today. I guess I just ate something that didn't agree with me." She said in what she hoped was a normal tone of voice.

Luna smiled and nodded, accepting her answer. They filed in to the classroom and the two of them sat next to each other.

"How perfect, Weaselette sitting with Loony Lovegood." A Slytherin boy sneered behind them, Ginny pulled out her wand and turned around in her seat so she faced him.

"Having trouble with names mate? Because I know a great spell to help you with that." Ginny said, casually twirling her wand. The boy blanched and shook his head, Ginny smiled evilly.

Snape chose that exact moment to walk into the classroom. He glanced at Ginny with her wand still pointed at the Slytherin boy and stopped, "Miss Weasley, is there a problem?" He asked coolly, she opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it.

She simply shook her head, "Then put your wand away until I tell you otherwise." He said a little forcefully, Ginny complied. She knew she shouldn't be surprised at his behavior, but it hurt her a little anyway. The memories of his conversation last night came unbidden to her mind. He was speaking to the whole class now, but Ginny was barely listening. All she could do was wonder who this woman was that caught Snape's attention.

"Miss Weasley, since you are so eager to use your wand, you go first." Ginny looked up like a deer in the headlights, "I-I'm sorry sir?" She asked, he raised an eyebrow.

"It seems your ability in potions does not carry into other fields." Ginny flushed and the Slytherins snickered, her temper rising at the insult.

"And your charming personality is carried with you everywhere." She snapped and stood up in front of the whole class.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for Miss Weasley's disrespectful behavior." He said, Ginny glared at him clenched her fists. He raised an eyebrow, daring her to continue.

"Am I supposed to pair up with someone..._Sir?"_ She said rather insolently, he glared at her.

"No, you'll be doing it with me." She huffed and put her hands on her hips, trying to express exactly how annoyed she was.

He turned to the class, "As I said before, you'll be learning how to defend yourself against a stronger opponent. Obviously, Miss Weasley is the weaker one."

Ginny smiled nastily, "_Obviously."_ She sneered, looking and sounding so much like Snape even he did a double-take.

He glared at her for a moment, wondering if she was trying to mock him. Ginny glared right back, already ready for a fight. He nodded to Ginny, indicating she should assume to form for a duel.

She complied and the two of them walked forward, bowing with wands up. Ginny's pulse was racing, she knew he was a Legilimens and had a reputation for being quite an accomplished wizard. She glared at him all the same, determined to beat him somehow. He smirked at her, giving her the impression he'd seen her thoughts. She tried to remember what Harry had said about Occlumency, as the two of them walked to opposite walls. Ginny was sure the room got bigger as she walked away from him.

Finally reaching the end, she turned and faced him. He stood there, wand pointed at her and Ginny knew what to do. She pointed her wand at him, he nodded to her and shot a spell. She dodged easily, shooting a spell in his general direction. He stepped aside as it flew by harmlessly. Her next three spells were so fast he barely had time to deflect them. A fourth one flew over his shoulder, ricocheted off the wall and hit him square in the back. He stumbled and Ginny sent a volley of Bat-Bogey hexes at him.

He deflected them and sent a spell at Ginny, knocking her flat on her back. She wheezed at him, a spell escaping her wand but missed him completely. He advanced on her slowly, the whole class waiting with bated breath. He came to a stop just above her. He raised his wand and Ginny kicked out a leg, causing him to fall forward. She pulled up her wand as he landed on top of her and pressed it to his neck.

"Checkmate." She said triumphantly, he only smirked as her whole body suddenly went rigid and she was unable to move.

He stood up and released her, "Like I said, the weaker one." He commented haughtily while offering her a hand up, she slapped it away and scrambled to her feet.

Angry and insulted, she walked away without a word and sat down with Luna. The Slytherins were sniggering and she was about to explode and hex them all.

"Next." Snape drawled lazily, and another student got up. By the end of class, most of the students were sore or just exhausted and all of them were defeated quite easily by Snape. He gave them homework on how to handle an opponent who is stronger. Ginny was so upset that the moment class was over, she bolted out the door. Luna followed after her, walking rather gingerly.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Snape watched her leave the classroom like it was on fire. He sighed resignedly, he wasn't sure what to do. She was fifteen, there was no way anyone would look on him fondly for liking her, if indeed that is what he was feeling. He surprised himself by telling Black about it. Perhaps he was more confused about the girl than he thought.

He wished he could go after her, but that wouldn't be prudent, and he had another class in a few minutes. He was never really good with women and emotions and such. It wouldn't matter anyway, he had to get Draco to tell him his plans and once he did, _he_ would be the one to kill Dumbledore. The very thought made his stomach turn, once he did that she would never forgive him. With such depressing thoughts on his mind, he started his next class, seeing as the students had all arrived.

Ginny was hiding in Myrtle's bathroom, not sure whether she wanted to cry or tear the place apart. Luckily Luna's arrival saved her from making a choice.

"You're very upset with Snape." She said simply, Ginny looked at her in surprise, wondering exactly how much she understood about that statement.

"He's so insulting!" She confirmed, hoping Luna didn't read into_why_ she was so upset with him.

Luna smiled kindly, "he can't act different with you, people would notice." Ginny sighed, knowing she was right. Luna had strange way of seeing the world, but it wasn't a bad one. Sometimes, Ginny felt Luna saw more of the world with more clarity than most people did.

"Yeah, okay. Let's go, we have classes to get to." Ginny said resignedly, Luna smiled as they walked out.

"Plus the snorkaks got to him, that's why he's in such a bad mood." Ginny burst out laughing,

"You know Luna, I like the way you think." She said between hysterical giggles.

They both went their separate ways to their classes, but Ginny felt better than she had since last night. She looked at her schedule and groaned, she had Potions next. She loved Potions normally, but this Slughorn guy was as annoying as he was corpulent. Nevertheless, she rushed to the dungeons to avoid being late.

Bursting through the door, just as class was starting. She paused for a second while Slughorn's back was turned, then dashed into the nearest available seat. She hastily pulled out her book, just as he turned to face the class. She tried to look like she'd already been there, but it was hard when she was red-faced and breathing hard. He smiled broadly when he spotted her, _oh Merlin._ She thought, expecting the worst.

"Miss Weasley! There you are! Please come to the front of the class, I've heard of your amazing talents with potions." He said loudly, and Ginny froze.

Seeing the whole class's eyes on her, she reluctantly pulled her book with her as she walked to the front of the class and sat down. She really disliked being in front. She plastered a tight smile on her face and flicked her wand, summoning her cauldron. She proceeded to fill it with water and set about to brew her potion as discreetly as possible.

Hermione was listening to Harry complain about Snape. She huffed quietly, not sure what to say to them anymore. Her thoughts turned once more to the Marchand fellow, he sounded _just_ like Sirius. So much so, it made her heart ache. She missed him terribly, reminiscing on the times in Grimmauld Place when he would find her reading in the library.

She smiled, remembering the patient look on his face as she rambled on about homework or something. She used to wonder sometimes if he was actually listening, only to be pleasantly surprised when he would answer back intelligently. She even asked him about how he became an Animagi, enjoying the conversation and staring at his handsome face. And then there was the time she accidentally fell asleep in the library, Sirius had evidently found her.

She had woken up in his arms as he carried her to her room. She had blushed scarlet, but he only smiled kindly at her. She was _sure_ Sirius had survived the veil. And that explained why Marchand sounded like him, had his smile, and Sirius Black's eyes. She sighed wistfully, thinking of Sirius's eyes. They were the most amazing shade of stormy grey, with that sparkle of life and happiness that just stole her heart away before she could think. She clutched her book tighter, wishing she could have had more time with him. She decided she was going to get to the bottom of this mystery! It had to be him! It had to!

Sirius was stirring the softly bubbling potion, feeling a little stressed about getting it just right. This _had_ to work, this time they were going to set all things right in this world. He was sick to _death_ of hiding while other people were out there, needing his help. Or just out there fighting, in peril.

He realized he was gripping the handle a little too tight and relaxed his grip. Focusing his attention back on the potion, he finally got it to a nice silvery grey color. Removing the wooden spoon he was using to stir very, very carefully and setting it aside. He waited a minute to make sure the potion was going to simmer fine on it's own. Then he stretched his cramped back muscles, missing his height and good looks. But he missed his long luscious black locks more than anything.

Hermione used to tell him that he was vain, but he never really believed her until now. He smiled, thinking of her that night. She'd grown so much in such a short time, she was prettier than she was before. His chest swelled with pride at the thought that she and Ginny had become Animagi, and she was a dog! He was especially fond of that. A dog! He grinned broadly at the idea of her as one.

He had to admit, it was slightly attractive to have a witch as a female dog. He stroked his bald chin appreciatively, thinking of all the fun they could have together. And once he was back to normal, had his hair back and Voldemort was killed, he could actually have a life. He set out to make a list of all the people who had died in years past.

After lunch, Hermione, Ron and Harry went to Potions. They ran into Ernie Macmillan, who was pompously talking to Harry.

"How are you, Ron - Hermione?" They said "fine" and Slughorn walked in at that moment. Hermione was slightly relieved, she was not fond of Ernie. The entered the dungeon, which was already full of smells and vapors. Hermione sniffed interestedly, as they walked passed some large, bubbling cauldrons.

Hermione recognized which potions where what. They sat down at a table with Ernie, next to the Amortentia. She could smell freshly mown grass, new parchment and a scent that was so distinctly Sirius, it brought a vivid memory to her mind of his face, and chest... She blinked away the memory, somehow slightly breathless. She dug a nail into her leg under the table to get her mind to focus again. Ernie looked at her funny, noticing her behavior, but she acted like nothing had happened.

Hermione got out her book and scales as Slughorn instructed. Harry raised his hand and told Slughorn he didn't have the necessary items for class. Hermione was trying to focus, but the smell kept wafting over to her, making her lose her focus a little. Her mind kept drifting to Sirius, his face, his voice, that laugh, his- Hermione cut off that train of thought right there. She bit her lip hard, trying desperately to pay attention.

Damn Ginny! Why did she have to bloody point out Hermione's feelings for Sirius! She huffed, then forced herself to take a deep, slow, calming breath. Finally, she could focus. Slughorn was talking,

"...You ought to have heard of 'em, even if you haven't made them yet. Anyone tell me what this one is?" He asked pointing to the Veritaserum. Hermione's hand shot up before anyone else's, Slughorn pointed to her.

"It's Veritaserum, a colorless, odorless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth." Hermione said, satisfied that her previous distraction had not effected her negatively.

"Very good, very good!" Said Slughorn looking happy, Hermione smiled proudly. He moved to the Polyjuice Potion, "Now," he continued, pointing to the potion. "this one is pretty well known... Featured in a few Ministry leaflets lately too.. Who can-?"

Hermione shot her hand up again. "It's a Polyjuice Potion, sir," She said.

"Excellent, excellent! Now, this one here... Yes, my dear?" He said as Hermione's hand shot up once again.

"It's Amortentia!" He smiled, "It is indeed. It seems almost foolish to ask," He said, looking quite impressed.

"But I assume you know what it does?" He asked.

"It's the most powerful love potion in the world!" Hermione said.

"Quite right! You recognized it, I suppose, by its distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen?" He asked.

"And the steam rising in characteristic spirals," Hermione said enthusiastically, "and it's supposed to smell differently to each of us, and I can smell freshly mown grass and new parchment and-" She blushed and did not complete her sentence.

She took a deep breath to dispel the thoughts that came unbidden to her mind. "May I ask your name, my dear?" Ignoring her embarrassment.

"Hermione Granger, sir." His eyebrows raised.

"Granger? Granger? Can you possibly be related to Hector Dagworth-Granger, who founded the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?" He asked, curiously.

"No, I don't think so, sir. I'm a Muggle-born, you see." She answered quietly.

Slughorn beamed at her, looking between her and Harry who was sitting next to her.

"Oho! '_One of my best friends is Muggle-born, and she's the best in our year!'_ I'm assuming this is the very friend of whom you spoke, Harry?" He said, sounding both impressed and excited.

"Yes, sir," Harry answered. "Well, well, take twenty well-earned points for Gryffindor, Miss Granger." Slughorn said genially.

Hermione noticed the dumbfounded look on Malfoy's face, but ignored him. She turned to Harry with a radiant expression, and whispered, "Did you really tell him I'm the best in the year? Oh, Harry!"

Ron decided to say something also. "Well, what's so impressive about that?" He said, looking annoyed.

"You_are_ the best in the year- I'd've told him so if he'd asked me!" Hermione smiled at him but shushed him all the same. The rest of the lesson went well until Hermione's Draught of Living Death didn't turn out as good as Harry's, who was not following the instructions in the book. At first when Ron asked, he only said he'd "got lucky" but at the lunch table, he revealed how he had cheated using the scribbled notes from the previous owner.

Hermione was more than a little upset, "I s'pose you think I cheated?" Harry asked her, looking aggravated.

"Well, it wasn't exactly your own work, was it?" She replied, feeling a little bit cheated herself. Ron of course was defending Harry, not like he'd ever take a side against Harry.

"Hang on," Ginny suddenly appeared, looking slightly ruffled. "Did I hear right? You've been taking orders from something someone wrote in a book, Harry?" Ginny asked, looking alarmed and angry. Harry seemed to pick up what was on her mind.

"It's nothing," he said, trying to reassure her. Hermione could tell it didn't work.

"It's not like, you know, Riddle's diary. It's just an old textbook someone's scribbled on." Ginny wasn't convinced.

"But you're doing what it says?" She said, sounding like she thought he was a little bit slow.

"I just tried a few of the tips written in the margins, honestly, Ginny, there's nothing funny-" Hermione cut in,

"Ginny's got a point," She said, perking up instantly.

"We ought to check that there's nothing odd about it. I mean, all these funny instructions, who knows?" She grabbed Harry's book from his bag, making him say, "Hey!"

Then said, "Specialis Revelio!" Rapping her wand smartly on the front cover. She was disappointed when nothing happened whatsoever. It simply lay there, looking dirty, old and dog eared.

"Finished?" Harry said irritably.

"Or d'you want to wait and see if it does a few backflips?" He continued, Hermione felt a little let down and suspicious.

"It seems alright," Hermione said, her suspicion showing on her face.

"I mean, it really does seem to be... just a textbook." Harry was still irritated, "Good. Then I'll have it back," he said, snatching the book away from her. Ginny made a disapproving noise, and the book slipped from Harry's grasp.

Hermione ignored him, feeling anxious still about the book. She _knew_ there was something off about that book. She looked up at Ginny for support, but saw her glaring up at Snape. Hermione noticed him staring back at her, his expression a little bit soft. Maybe even a little apologetic, this surprised Hermione at first. She looked between the two of them for a moment, then it dawned on her. They had always seemed to be nicer to each other than; at least in Snape's case, anyone else who was a non-Slytherin. He _likes_ her, and she likes _him_. Hermione just stared, wide-eyed for a moment, as the two carried on a silent conversation from across the Great Hall. After a moment, Ginny's hard expression softened up considerably.

From the looks of it, Snape had almost gotten Ginny out of whatever she was upset about when his eyes snapped to Hermione's. He noticed her wide-eyed expression, then suddenly looked away, starting up a conversation with Trelawney who looked ecstatic that Snape was speaking to her. Trelawney even turned a little bit red and batted her eyelashes at him. Hermione watched in amusement as Snape took notice of this behavior and quickly turned to talk to someone else. Not before he glanced back at Ginny for a moment, then was deep in a conversation with Dumbledore. Hermione glanced back at Ginny, who looked a little disappointed. Ginny turned to Hermione and suddenly noticed her staring at her already. Ginny stared at her knowing expression blankly, then finally her eyes narrowed.

"What?" She asked quietly, Hermione glanced between Snape and Ginny significantly. Ginny's eyes bulged and she blushed, her face turning the same color as her hair. Hermione snickered, but drew her thumb and forefinger across her lips, to say 'my lips are sealed.' Ginny smiled, and glanced back at Snape doubtfully. He looked at her for a moment, then turned away quickly.

Hermione got stern, "You should be careful with him. He's a teacher, and you don't know anything about his past." Hermione said, Ginny rolled her eyes and groaned slightly.

"I know that he's a teacher, Hermione-"

"And that it's prohibited for a teacher to have any romantic involvement with a student? And that not only could you cost him his job, but make it hard for him to get a job anywhere else and possibly, if your parents go to the Ministry about it, get him put in Azkaban?" Hermione said, almost in one breath. Ginny opened and closed her mouth a few times.

She then looked down at her plate in despair, "It's that bad, huh?" Her voice sounding a little bit raw. Hermione almost felt guilty for bringing it up, but it was the truth.

"Just for right now, while you're his student. Once you finish Hogwarts, you can do what ever you want. You just have to wait until then." She said, trying to console her friend.

Ginny nodded, "What if he doesn't want to wait for me to be old enough?" She asked very quietly, "Well, then, you can hex him." Hermione said simply, Ginny laughed out loud.

"I already tried that! It didn't work!" Hermione's mouth fell open, "What? You tried to hex a_teacher?!_ Merlin's beard Ginny, I knew you were bold but honestly!" She said incredulously, Ginny only laughed harder, rocking back and forth.

"It was for the class!" She gasped between giggles. "Oh," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. Ginny kept giggling for a few more minutes, making Hermione smile.

Snape saw Miss Granger looking at him, and back to Miss Weasley. He turned away and tried to hide the fact that he'd once again been looking at Miss Weasley. He tried talking to Sybil, but she tried to flirt with him. He was horrified and quite disturbed when she actually batted her eyelashes at him. To make things even worse, his Legilimancy gave him a glimpse of what she was thinking. It took physical effort _not_ to cringe at her very, _very_ dirty thoughts.

He engrossed himself in a conversation with Dumbledore, edging away, slightly from Sybil. After a few moments of half-hearted chatting with Dumbledore, he glanced down at Miss Weasley again. He saw her talking to Miss Granger, he assumed it had something to do with him when Miss Weasley blushed and Miss Granger drew her fingers across her lips. Miss Weasley smiled and Snape felt his heart go a little soft. She looked up at him and he held her gaze for a minute, then looked away.

He looked back a moment later to see Miss Weasley looking sad. She asked Miss Granger something, and Miss Granger looked a little guilty. _What the fuck is she saying to her? Why is Miss Weasley sad?_ He thought, very frustrated. She was saying something more and Miss Weasley nodded. Snape was annoyed at not being able to hear their words. At that moment, Sybil put a hand on his arm and put her lips to his ear in a sorry attempt to be seductive.

"Sev-" Was all she got out, he jerked away from her as he felt her hand move to his leg.

He looked at her in utter revulsion, "Sybil, please refrain from touching me. I don't like it. Or you, and I do not appreciate your horrible and _pathetic_ attempts at seduction." He said rudely, she leaned back looking hurt and extremely offended._Good!_ He thought, turning away from her as if dismissing her completely. He heard her whimper, and he felt even more disgusted than before.

He heard Miss Weasley's laugh and his head snapped in her direction. He watched her as she rocked back and forth in laughter. His lips twitched, and he suppressed the urge to smile. Staring at her with out realizing it, he jumped when a large letter clattered onto his plate. He picked it up and looked at the address, it was from Marchand. He got up and left quickly, letter in hand. He glanced at Miss Weasley, but looked away when he noticed her looking back at him.

After Snape had left the Hall, a letter plopped into Hermione's lap very discreetly. She looked around, trying to figure out how it got there, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Not even an owl. Ginny was still staring after the long gone Snape, Harry and Ron were busy talking about Quidditch. She bent low over the letter, and opened it.

Hermione, I need to speak to you.

Please meet me in Gryffindor Tower fireplace, midnight tonight. Come alone.

Sincerely,

Marchand D' Oeuf

She folded the letter again very carefully, and slipped it in her bag. She looked up and saw Ginny looking at her curiously, she smiled and said, "Fixing my books, so they're in order, you know?" Ginny rolled her eyes and looked away.

Hermione was a little excited, she had a secret just for herself and no one else knew. She wondered what was so important that he had to speak to her alone. It reminded her of when Sirius would talk to them through the fireplace only a few short years ago. Her heart skipped a beat, maybe she could get a full answer out of him. Not just a little confirming nod. She had already come to the conclusion that Snape saved him after all, even when he refused to do it.

She got up with Harry and Ron, bidding Ginny goodbye. Still deep in her thoughts she followed them to their next class. She couldn't decide whether she was mad at Snape for keeping it from her, or happy that he fooled even her into thinking Sirius was dead, hence keeping him safe from harm. That night, when Snape confronted her and Ginny as animals, she was_so_mad. He had given her detention for trying to save Sirius's life! And then he went and did it himself! After he refused to! She huffed, so frustrated! On one side, she could logically follow along Snape's train of thought behind his behavior.

But on the other side, she was_not_thinking logically and she was incensed that he treated her as he did. She_told_him Sirius was alive! She had a right to know what happened, or even that he was okay! But instead she got nothing, cast aside like stupid little school girl! She realized she was digging her nails into her book. When she released her grip on it, she saw that there were deep indentations where her nails had been.

Feeling guilty for hurting the book, she muttered "Repairo." Feeling like she should not continue that train of thought, she instead focused on what Harry and Ron were talking about.

Feeling better than before lunch, Ginny was walking to class when she bumped into a couple of third year girls. One had violet hair that stuck out in all directions, green almond shaped eyes and round glasses, and a pasty complexion. The other had silky black hair, big grey eyes that almost looked purple, snow colored skin and naturally red lips. They struck her as an odd pair, especially since one was Gryffindor, and the other a Slytherin. She stared at them for a minute, feeling like she should know them but couldn't place how. They both stared back, an odd expression on their faces.

"You're Ginny Weasley, right?" The black haired girl said.

Ginny nodded, "Yes, do I know you? Or you?" She asked, still not sure what about them made her think she knows them.

The black haired girl smiled knowingly, but it was the other one who replied.

"No, but we know you." Her cryptic answer only served to confuse Ginny more, she blinked a few times.

"What?" she asked, they smiled sagely and went about business without another word. Ginny stared after them, perplexed. She finally shrugged, and chalked it up to them studying Divination. People always got a little loony when they started buying into Professor Trelawney's crap and tea leaves. She ran off to her next class.

That night, Hermione was waiting in the Gryffindor common room. She secured her seat by the fire, doing her homework on Defense Against the Dark Arts. The time seemed to crawl by. Finally, by ones and twos, everybody vacated the common room. Alone at last, Hermione checked her watch. It was 11:30pm, she made a disgusted noise, she still had_half an hour_.

She finished her homework for Snape, and started on her Ancient Runes essay. She put her full attention on it, taking her time, translating then checking and double checking her answers to make sure they were correct. She finished it finally, and put it aside. She checked her watch again, 11:45pm. She wiggled it a few times, hoping it would tell her it was actually later. No such luck, she looked around for more homework only to find that she'd done it all.

She threw her hands up in frustration. There was a quiet laugh from behind her, she turned to see Marchand smiling at her. There was something different about his look, it was like she was looking at him but at the same time, not. Noticing her puzzled look he tugged on what looked like a collar around his neck. She squinted at it, noticing how it seemed to be shifting colors.

"It's a glamour collar, it makes me look pretty." He explained simply, Hermione was sure that he was just messing with her. Glamour collars, or objects more like, were made to conceal one's identity. Different from a Polyjuice potion in that it didn't make you look like someone in particular, it just made you look different from yourself. Possibly even making people forget what you look like.

She quirked an eyebrow, "right, of course it does. So, what was so urgent that you had to speak to me tonight?" She asked curiously, he smiled wider and came to sit next to her.

"I need your researching skills. I was wondering if you could help me pinpoint when and where my- ahh... Where Regulus Black went missing." He said with a tight smile.

She gave him a look that said she was not fooled. He looked down and picked at the cuff of one sleeve, stalling telling her more. She crossed her legs with such sass, his lips twitched in a suppressed laugh.

"You're not 'Marchand D' Oeuf' are you." She stated, he said nothing.

"And the only way you would know of my amazing researching skills is if you already know me." She continued, he pursed his lips but still said nothing.

"And for some reason you feel the need to conceal your identity from everyone, and of course there must be a reason for it. So, that sums up to only one person, that I know who would need to conceal his identity, be sneaky enough to be able to follow Ginny and I through the forest undetected and would know to come to me for help with research. You're Sirius Black." She said with certainty.

He smiled at her softly, "Nothing get's past you, does it?" She blushed, "I don't suppose I need to impress on you the importance of _not telling anyone?_" He said seriously.

Hermione looked annoyed, "I told Snape that you were alive. And I told him he should not tell anyone that you're alive." She said angrily. His eyes widened, apparently Snape had omitted telling him this. There was a beat of silence, then he gave a short bark of laughter.

"Why am I not surprised, I owe you my life again." He said gently, Hermione smiled and went slightly pink. She bit her lip, feeling shy all of a sudden. He seemed to notice, giving her a questioning look.

"Can I see you, the real you, for a moment." She requested, he sobered for a moment.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea." He responded in a sad and pained voice. Hermione felt bad for asking something so selfish.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. Forget it." She back-pedaled quickly, he stared at her for a few seconds, thinking about something. Then he looked around the room, even leaning over to check if anyone was coming down the stairs.

Once he safely established that they were not going to be disturbed, he reached up and unbuckled the collar around his neck. Pulling the strap out through the buckle. The effect was immediate, Marchand D' Oeuf was replaced by Sirius Black with very, very short hair. Hermione's eyes lit up, and before she could stop herself she jumped on him.

"Oofh!" was all he said as she practically tackled him to the ground. Her arms wrapped themselves around his neck and she buried her face in his shoulder. She hugged him so tightly, he grunted a little in discomfort, but he hugged her back with equal force. Hermione wasn't sure when, but at some point, she started crying.

She suddenly realized she was sobbing on his shoulder. Happiness and relief welling up inside her, so she thought it might consume her. He only hugged her tighter, feeling the ache of loneliness finally ease up. They stayed there for a long time, both relishing the other's company and neither wanting it to end. After a while, Hermione nodded off to sleep in his lap.

Sirius looked at her for a minute, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. She smiled in her sleep and mumbled his name. He couldn't describe it, but it gave him a funny feeling inside to know that she was thinking of him, even in her sleep. He just sat there for a moment, realizing how much he missed being a normal person.

If he was a normal person, he could meet her in broad daylight, in public without severe repercussions. He could meet up with Harry, and be there for him as his godfather. He could have friends who weren't snarky and reclusive. He looked at Hermione's sleeping form, she had saved his life twice now, she was so bloody brilliant and had gotten quite beautiful.

He wasn't sure if that was the reason, or just the utter lack of female contact for so long, that made his thoughts head towards things _not _godfather related.

He gave a resigned sigh, _not yet. After the war. _And with that, he gently picked her up and quietly climbed the stair to the second landing. Shifting her sleeping form carefully, he put her on his back and turned into Snuffles. With great care and balance, he climbed up the second staircase.

He arrived at the door to her dormitory and found that someone had left the door ajar. Nosing through the door, he followed the smell of Hermione to her bed. Turning back into human form, he pulled Hermione from his back and gently set her down in her bed.

He removed her shoes and pulled the covers over her. He squeezed her hand one last time and then left as Snuffles. He shifted back into Sirius, put his collar back on and flooed away, using some powder he had stashed in his pocket.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Snape was pacing in his chambers, Sirius watched him idly from his spot on Snape's sofa. "You should not have done that! I created that damn collar to conceal your identity even as a dog! Not so you could go visit Miss Granger and bloody reveal yourself!" He snarled, Sirius nodded patiently.

"What were you even _doing_ with her?!" He demanded rudely, Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but Snape continued his rant.

"The last thing I bloody need is Sirius Black coming back from the fucking dead and being spotted in Gryffindor Tower! With a student no less! As if my life isn't _fucking_ complicated enough!" He threw his arms up in complete frustration.

This piqued Sirius's curiosity, "What else is complicating your life?" Snape stopped pacing.

"Nothing." He answered, and then continued pacing. Sirius sighed, preparing his speech to convince Snape to tell him.

"Don't bother trying to give me that speech, it's not going to work." Snape said, before Sirius even finished articulating his thoughts. Sirius's eyebrows raised in surprise, but he grinned anyway.

"Okay, fine. I guess, and you can decide when to tell me what's really going on." He slid down the couch a little and put his feet on Snape's coffee table. Snape's lip curled in irritation, but Sirius ignored him. "Okay, let's see, you're girlfriend doesn't want to clean your house." He guessed, Snape gave him a withering look, "No." He said and Sirius grinned.

"She doesn't like your haircut?" Snape glared at him. "As if I have such problems." He sneered, Sirius smirked evilly.

"Her family disapproves of you. But Dumbledore thinks you two are the _perfect_ match?" Sirius clasped his hands together, pressed them to his cheek and batted his eyelashes.

Snape gave him a look that said _you're nuts._ Sirius was unfazed, "Your girlfriend is in a love triangle with some other guy and you feel threatened." Snape looked like he had had just about enough of Sirius's nonsense.

"Draco Malfoy likes her niece, and your girlfriend wants you to intervene. She dislikes the muggle movie you picked out and now you have to take it back? She _wants_ you to get a haircut? Or, she just really likes the idea of washing your hair for you-"

"Is that a thing?" Snape asked suddenly, Sirius blinked a few times in surprise.

"What?" He asked in confusion, "Girls wanting to touch your hair, and wash it for you?" Snape clarified, Sirius tried to look serious.

"Um, yeah, lots of women like that. Why?" Snape shrugged casually, "I've had it a few times, women liking my hair... Or something like that." Sirius looked nearly impressed, "I hadn't realized you were so... Active in that area... You know, what with Lily and all." Sirius said quietly, Snape was still for a minute.

"I wouldn't say I've had that many..._Emotional_ encounters, but I've... tried to, a little bit... Back, before... You know... _He_ got to them. And since then, I've been... a little active. But not with any, feelings. I guess." Snape said, sounding awkward and uncomfortable.

Sirius nodded, "Until now." He prodded gently, Snape nodded silently. "But..." Sirius didn't really know what kept him interested in Snape's life, he chalked it up to having no one else to talk to.

"She's... Really young... And a Gryffindor." Sirius's eyebrow raised, "how young?" Snape looked away, feeling a little guilty. "She's... Still in Hogwarts." Sirius's other eyebrow shot up.

"So, like, what? Seventeen?" Sirius asked, Snape shook his head. Sirius's eyes got wider, "Sixteen?" Again, Snape shook his head.

Sirius blinked a few times, "_Fifteen?_" He asked somewhat incredulously, Snape nodded. "Damn. Are you sure you could keep up with a girl like that?"

Snape looked offended, "I'm not _that_ old!" Sirius shrugged, "Yeah, but... " Snape felt as if his ego was being poked at with a sharp stick.

"I have more stamina and energy than most men half my age. And I am _far_ more intelligent." He said haughtily, "Merlin's beard, fifteen and your already thinking about _that?_" Sirius said in surprise, Snape looked just as surprise.

"What? N-no, I didn't mean it like _that!_" He defended, "I just meant in general! As in, I'm not weak or anything! I don't even _look_ that old!" He said, feeling embarrassed.

Sirius smirked, "I didn't think so, but I'd thought I'd ask." He said casually, Snape huffed in annoyance.

"So, what else is complicating your life, beside being in love with a fifteen-year-old girl?" Sirius inquired, Snape shook his head. "I'm not telling you that." He said severely, Sirius could only imagine it had something to do with Dumbledore.

He shrugged and didn't press any further, "So, does this mean you don't have a girlfriend or that your girlfriend is fifteen?" Sirius asked, Snape scoffed. "What the hell is your obsession with my love life?!"

Sirius shrugged, "Well, it's not like I have anything better to do! Or think about!" Sirius exclaimed moodily, Snape smirked. "So, this entire time, you've been pumping me for information, because you're bored."

Sirius shrugged, "Hope that doesn't hurt your feelings mate." Snape shook his head. "Not at all, I thought it was weird that you were so interested."

Sirius nodded, "I know, it's a sad day in a man's life when his enemy's love life is more interesting to him than his own."

Snape smirked, "Yes, it must suck to be you."

Sirius glared at him out of the blue, "says the man who has to take the credit for an idea his student had." Snape looked confused, "what on earth are you on about?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes, "Oh, Sirius, you have to make everyone believe you're dead! Oh, this is the _second_ time _I've_ saved your life!" Snape looked at him as if he'd gone mental.

"Yes. And?" Sirius looked at him, disgusted.

"It _wasn't_ your idea, nor did you even know I was alive! Hermione told you!" Sirius exclaimed, finally.

Snape smirked evilly, "I still fail to see how that changes anything. For all we know, you're still a wanted criminal, should the Ministry find out that you're alive, and Miss Granger knew of your whereabouts and_didn't_ report it. She could go to Azkaban herself. Or at least be in very big trouble. Hate me all you want, but I'm still the only thing standing in the way of you being dead or back in Azkaban." Snape said coolly.

Sirius blinked a few times. "Well shit. I guess I'm still stuck with you. Damn." Snape smirked in satisfaction.

"What did you mean, you didn't think I was actually thinking of.. Her, like that?" Snape asked suddenly, Sirius took a minute to answer.

"I dunno mate, I guess you just don't strike me as the type of guy who would normally condone that kind of behavior. You know, you have standards. So, I s'pose it must be a pretty bloody special girl for her to catch your attention." Sirius concluded, Snape was a little impressed that he had come to that conclusion and not that he was just some git who liked his girls young. He felt a slight relief that at least_someone_ wouldn't think badly of him. He decided, maybe, just maybe, it would be okay to like her. He was beginning to believe it would be fine, after he fixed that last mistake, to keep the more depressing and unpleasant parts of his past, in the past.

"How's the potion coming?" He asked and Sirius sighed, "Slow and steady. It should be ready soon, I hope."

Snape nodded approvingly, "It's really bloody boring you know. Just sitting there, making bloody potions all day. For fuck's sake, I even brewed the Animagus potion!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air.

Snape's eyes widened, "Why the hell did you do that? Who's going to drink that? Those ingredients aren't cheap you know!" He snapped in anger, Sirius shrugged.

"I don't know, you could take it if you want to. What ever problems you're currently facing might be easier if you could turn into an animal. You'd be surprised how it can get you into places you wouldn't normally be able to get into otherwise."

Snape looked unconvinced, "But that's not all it takes to become an Animagus, and if I do it illegally, like you, I could go to Azkaban."

Sirius smirked, "Yeah, if you're dumb enough to get caught! But it can also get you out of Azkaban, I should know. Besides, the spell is a lot less advanced as some of the spells I've seen you do." Sirius continued, beginning to see the benefit of Snape as an Animagus. Snape didn't say anything, pondering what Sirius had said. _It would make it easier to get around without being seen..._ Snape thought, seriously considering doing it. Sirius waited, knowing that one wrong move could make him decide against it.

Finally, Snape nodded his assent. "I guess so... You didn't poison it did you?"

Sirius laughed out loud, "No, sorry. Not this time." Snape looked at him skeptically.

"I don't believe you." He said flatly.

Sirius sniggered, "well, I do have a price for not poisoning you." He said, Snape's eyes narrowed. "What?"

Sirius gave an exaggerated sigh, "I'm so bloody bored all day! I can't believe I'm saying this, but, I could stand to spend some time with even you. Are you up for a card game? I'm not used to being alone so much! I need friends!" Sirius whined, sounding like a dog.

Snape blinked, "what exactly are you proposing, that we act like we're _friends?"_ He almost spat out the last word. Sirius shrugged and nodded. Snape was silent for a long time.

"You and your _friends_ tormented me for fucking_years_ and now, you want to be friends with me because _you_ feel the need to_socialize._" Snape snarled. Sirius pursed his lips, not sure what to say to that. He took a deep breath and started where he should have started a long time ago.

"I'm sorry. I realize that really doesn't help. But I am, you've become a better person than... A lot of people in this world. Wormtail included, obviously. You definitely have the right to be mad at us. We misjudged you severely. And I'll make up for it one day." Sirius stated as calmly as possible, refusing to let his pride get the better of him. Snape didn't say anything, calculating his options before he spoke.

"Help me bring them back." He said finally, Sirius's head jerked up to look at Snape in shock.

Snape held his gaze fiercely, "both of them. And anyone else we can." Sirius let the idea sink in, a slow grin spreading across his face.

"I'll do it! Fuck yeah!"

He answered enthusiastically, Snape smirked. "So we have an accord?"

Sirius nodded, "one thing though, let's say we succeed...-ed. It's been nearly twenty years, wouldn't someone have noticed their presence? Wouldn't Harry have grown up with his parents? Why did he go to the Dursleys' if his parents are still alive?" He said, unloading all his questions and doubts on Snape. Snape was ready for this apparently, as there was no hesitation before he answered.

"We did to them what we did to you. Change their looks and their names, give them a new life. One without their son. So we'd have to wait until after he gets taken from the house and given to the Dursleys'."

Sirius nodded approvingly, "Yes, that's pretty good. But the potion only works within an hour of the person's death. How are we going to authentically fake their deaths if they get up and walk away within an hour of dying? How the hell are we going to convince them to part with their only child?" Sirius countered.

Snape paused, "As for the bodies, I'll brew the Draught of the Living Death. And then we'll just have to dig them up after the funeral." Sirius gave him a squeamish look.

"As for convincing them to part with their son, that's where you come in to play."

Sirius nodded solemnly, "And then we'd have to arrange a history for them, a way to fit into society convincingly."

Sirius added and Snape nodded in agreement. There was an awkward pause, then Sirius stuck his hand out to Snape. Snape looked at the proffered appendage like it was something disgusting. But after a few minutes, when Sirius didn't take his hand away, Snape reluctantly shook it.

"So? Card game on Saturday?" Sirius asked cheerfully, Snape gave him a sour look. "I haven't totally forgiven you yet."

Sirius shrugged, "I didn't expect you to at all." Snape seemed satisfied with his answer.

"Yes, fine. Saturday night. We'll play a stupid card game. But come to my chambers, I can't be leaving Hogwarts right now." Snape finally conceded, Sirius grinned like a dog going out for a walk.

"Fuck yeah!" He exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. Snape rolled his eyes, and Sirius slapped him on the back happily, making him look even more sour.

Over the next week, Hermione spent most of her time in the library, and on the floo network. She was asking around to various places, and people about Regulus Black. She finally got to the end of her trail and it went cold, almost. As it turned out, the person to ask about Regulus's last whereabouts right before his death, was the Malfoys. Hermione found this matter to be quite distasteful. Finally, after much deliberation back and forth, she worked up the courage to attempt to talk to Draco Malfoy about it. But he was always around his friends, and Parkinson. She started following him sometimes, when he looked like he was parting from his friends, but he always managed to evade her or give her the slip and leave her lost in the halls of Hogwarts. She finally got so frustrated she hexed Crabbe. This did not go over well with Malfoy and the rest of his posse and she ended up having to run as the other three decided to gang up on her. Later that night she complained to Ginny about it.

Ginny smirked deviously and said simply, "we just need to kidnap him." Hermione just stared at her, wondering for the millionth time where Ginny got such ideas,_Fred and George probably._ The two of them began to plan it out carefully. Ginny said that they should brew a Polyjuice potion and one of them should turn in to Parkinson and lure him away from Crabbe and Goyle. Then take him walking around in circles until he lost his bearing's, then knock him out and drag him into a dark empty dungeon room. "After that, interrogation should be pretty easy." Ginny finished happily, Hermione stared at her again, feeling a slight sense of disquiet about Ginny's morals.

Feeling desperate, Hermione agreed to it, but made a mental note to try to do something about Ginny's darker streak. They brought Luna and Neville in on the plan, Hermione nicked the Marauder's Map from Harry, along with his Invisibility Cloak. Hermione pointed out that Slughorn had a Polyjuice potion already brewed and ready for use. She was feeling shadier and shadier about this plan as it progressed, but didn't feel like she could back out at this point. So as they reached the end of the day, Ginny got in a huge nock down drag out fight with Parkinson in a deserted hallway, leaving Parkinson unconscious and looking suspiciously green. Hermione distracted Slughorn while Luna and Neville snuck into his office, stealing the Polyjuice Potion. Hermione waited until she saw the two of them exit the office, then hurriedly ended the conversation with Slughorn and walked away abruptly. Neville was sniggering at Slughorn's confused face when Hermione finally caught up with them.

"He looks like a walrus that was suddenly misplaced." Neville laughed, Luna smiled dreamily, "Neville!"

Hermione admonished, "He's a teacher! You can't say that about him!" Neville looked a little guilty. They made their way back to the Gryffindor Tower as calmly as possible, attempting to not draw attention to themselves. It almost didn't seem to work and Hermione felt like everyone was staring right at them.

When it became intolerable, she leaned forward and whispered, "Is it just me, or is everyone staring at us?"

Neville snickered, "It's just you Hermione. Merlin's beard, it's like you've never broken the rules! Don't worry, just stay calm."

Hermione nodded, "Is anyone else worried about Ginny's ability to be sneaky and down right devious?"

She tried to whisper, "What 'devious' behavior are you referring to Miss Granger?" A silky voice said behind them. The three of them froze, apparently she was louder than she thought. They turned around slowly, to their_horror_ it was Professor Snape. Hermione's face went white, Neville's even whiter, and Luna smiled at him dreamily.

"Well?" He snapped when no one answered, they jumped and all three started speaking at once. Each one saying something different, until Snape held up his hand to silence them. He surveyed them carefully, looking each one in the eye until they looked away. He pointed his finger at Hermione, who's eyes widened in fear.

"What 'devious' antics is Miss Weasley up to?" He asked carefully, Hermione gulped loudly and opened her mouth to speak.

"Professor Snape!" A voice called from behind him.

A little first year Gryffindor came running up to him, "What?" He snapped, the little boy flinched and took a step back, "there's an unconscious sixth year Slytherin boy down the hall there!" The boy said, pointing back to where he just came from. Snape let out a sigh that bordered on a growl, glared back at the three of them and then strode off towards the Slytherin boy. As soon as he was out of sight, Ginny appeared from another direction.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Snape to come back and interrogate us?" She said impatiently, nobody needed to be told twice.

The four of them headed back into the dungeons. "So, what the hell did Snape want?" She asked casually, Luna was the first to answer.

"He wanted to know what devious behavior you were up to." Ginny looked at her in surprise then blushed, looking away. "How did he know I was up to something devious?" She asked carefully. Neville was looking at her suspiciously, but Hermione spoke.

"I was talking to Neville and Luna about it." She said, sounding a little guilty. Ginny nodded but didn't say anything. Neville was looking at her with narrowed eyes, Ginny glanced in his direction and then looked away really quickly.

"What Neville?" She said a little aggressively, "Why do you always blush when someone talks about Snape?" He asked in a peeved tone.

She shrugged, "what's it to you?" Her nonchalant attitude put him off a little, he looked down, self conscious. "I don't know, I'm your friend, I guess I'm just a little worried about it."

She smiled at him kindly, if a bit mischievously and said, "Don't worry about it Neville." He nodded, accepting her answer. Hermione was amazed at how Ginny kept her life in check with such a big and obvious secret. Ginny glanced at Hermione, catching her eye and smiling with a mischievous wink. Hermione just rolled her eyes back and gave her a disapproving look. Ginny shrugged casually, and they continued in silence until they reached the empty classroom. Ginny pulled out a fistful of Parkinson's hair that she grabbed in the fight. Hermione winced looking at it, simultaneously thinking of how much it must have hurt to have one's hair ripped out and of her last experience with a Polyjuice potion. Ginny stuffed a few hairs in the potion and then handed it to Hermione, who blanched.

"W-why me?" She squeaked, Ginny grinned devilishly, "Because you wanted to talk to him."

Hermione groaned, "yeah, but still, you're much better at being sneaky and Slytherin-like." Ginny shrugged, "not necessarily. You're the smartest witch of our age. If anyone can fool Malfoy into believing you're Parkinson, it'll be you." She said confidently, Hermione looked uncertain, but downed the potion anyways. She shuddered at the taste, and then again when it started to take effect. Her body shifted about, getting a little taller and a fair amount skinnier, her hair straightened out and turned platinum blonde. Ginny handed her Parkinson's school robes. Hermione glanced at Neville, who took the hint and turned to watch the door. As she changed, Ginny snorted and looked her up and down disapprovingly.

"I always knew Parkinson was anorexic, but now I have proof!" Hermione looked down a little self-consciously, hurrying into Pansy's robes a little faster. When she was all dressed, she looked down at herself, feeling awkward in this new body. Ginny motioned for her to turn around, Hermione complied as Neville, Luna and Ginny inspected her carefully. Neville nodded at her, gesturing for her to walk around a little. Hermione tried out her new legs, wobbling a little at first but becoming more confident with each step.

Finally she felt she had conquered walking, "not so modest Hermione, you have to sway your hips like you think you're a model but more exaggerated." Ginny said, Neville nodded behind her. Hermione raised an eyebrow but did it anyways. She walked again, feeling more than a little strange as she tried to balance properly while swinging her hips that much.

"You need to dip your hip before swinging it the other way, that's how she does it." Neville said helpfully, Ginny, Hermione and even Luna swung their heads to stare at him.

Neville went red, "What? It's just an observation." He defended, Ginny snorted in a very unladylike fashion. Neville's face got even pinker, and Luna smiled in amusement.

"You fancy her." He went bright red, "N-no, I just notice these things, you know, I'm a guy." He said, as if that explained everything to the three girls in the room. Hermione smirked behind her hand, trying to be polite and not laugh, Luna laughed out loud, and Ginny just stared at him incredulously. He glanced at Ginny in slight alarm.

"I can't believe you! You have the balls to accuse me of liking Snape, and here you are fancying_Pansy fucking Parkinson!"_ Ginny spat out the name like it was something gross.

Neville blushed, "I don't fancy her Ginny, I just noticed she's kind of hot. Besides, I'm a Gryffindor, I should have balls." He said with a shrug. Ginny stared at him for a minute longer, then suddenly she nodded, completely accepting his answer. Hermione rolled her eyes, the way Ginny got over upsets with her friends was ridiculously simple. Hermione almost envied her a little bit, everything was so big and dramatic with Ron, Harry not so much, but particularly Ron.

Luna piped up, "I think Hermione needs to get going, otherwise the potion's going to wear off. Don't you?" This brought everyone back to reality. Ginny fixed up Hermione's make up to make her look like Parkinson.

Hermione almost went out the door before she remembered, "oh! I don't know what the password is!" She exclaimed,

"parseltongue." Ginny said matter-of-factly, the other three looked at her in surprise.

"I may or may not have set off a few dungbombs in the Slytherin dormitories." She said with an innocent shrug, Neville grinned appreciatively. Hermione huffed in nervousness, and Ginny gave her a playful shove out the door.

"Go get 'em tiger!" She said a little sarcastically, Hermione glared back at her. Having no choice but to go along with it, she sashayed her way towards the Slytherin dormitories. She said the password in Parkinson's high-pitched voice and went in. Looking around and not finding Malfoy, she grabbed a passing Slytherin boy.

"Where's my Draco?" She demanded, the boy looked at her funny, then his eyes just settled on her chest.

"Uuumm… I think he's in his room?" He said distractedly, Hermione was appalled at this kid's nerve to sit there and stare at her chest.

She smiled, puffing out her chest anyways, "well could you please... Escort me there?" Hermione grabbed his arm and held it tight to her front. The boy went red, seemingly unable to speak for a few minutes and just nodded. She gestured forward, as if to say 'lead the way'. He nodded, licked his lips and walked forward, until he arrived at Malfoy's dormitory.

He opened the door and said, "D-Draco, Pansy's hear to see y-you." His voice cracked a few times and she smiled provocatively at him.

Leaning forward, she grabbed his chin and said, "Thank you SO much for helping me find my Draco." He nodded in a daze, she scrunched her nose for a moment then shoved him out the door.

Draco stared at her, "what do you want Pansy?" She smiled at him suggestively, coming over to slide her hands down his back.

"I have a surprise for you." She purred, he raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued. She slid her hands down his chest and grabbed his tie. He looked between her and his tie for a minute, she gave it a little tug.

He stood up quickly and followed her out of the dorm. She grabbed his hand and laced her fingers with his as she slowly led him out of the Slytherin common room. He grabbed her waist as they walked, his hands travelling down slowly. Hermione smiled at him knowingly, and as they reached the classroom she pushed him against the door loudly. She leaned forward as if to kiss him, but turned the door handle and shoved him to the ground. Ginny shoved a bag over his head as Neville tackled him. Luna grabbed his wand, and together with Hermione's help they shoved him onto a chair and hog-tied him to it. He struggled furiously, yelling through the bag over his head. Luna silenced him quickly and Ginny removed the bag from his head. He looked around wildly as the four of them stood back and admired their handiwork. Hermione leaned forward, still looking like Parkinson and grabbed his chin. He glared at her hatefully, the contempt in his eyes would have made a lesser girl cry.

But Hermione only smiled at him, "Hello Drakky, I have some questions to ask you." She said mockingly, in Pansy's high-pitched voice. He let out a silent stream of obscenities at her, going red from the exertion of it as he struggled against his bonds.

"Tsk, tsk, Drakky, that's not very nice!" Ginny chimed in, her mock hurt only fueling his rage.

Luna smiled, "I think he has a wrackspurt up his nose, that would explain why he so angry." Luna said helpfully, Ginny and Hermione laughed.

Neville came forward, "I think we should get a move on, who knows if someone's nearby." He said cautiously, Ginny nodded and went to the door.

"I'll keep watch, ask him your questions really fast." Hermione nodded and turned back to Malfoy.

"I need to know where Regulus Black was right before he died and what he was doing." She asked him, he glared at her in confusion.

"Well?" She demanded, he smirked evilly and shrugged. She got a little annoyed, so she pointed her wand at him. "Tell me, or I'll hex you so badly, not even the real Pansy Parkinson will be able to touch you." She warned, he stared at her wand in trepidation. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

Hermione huffed, "if I let you have your voice back, will you promise not to scream?" She asked, pointing her wand straight at his nose. He went cross-eyed looking at her wand and then nodded very slowly. She muttered the reversal spell and he cleared his throat to test it out. He stared at her wand, as it was still pointed at his nose.

"Why do you want to know about Regulus Black?" He asked quietly, Hermione took a long time to answer, finally she said, "I just, need to help a friend, get some peace on a deceased family member." Draco narrowed his eyes at her.

"Whom, pray tell, is this family member?" He asked quietly, Hermione pursed her lips.

"Nymphadora Tonks. She would like to know what happened to both Sirius and Regulus Black. I hoped, since she's your cousin, you would be willing to help her." She said carefully, Draco looked unconvinced.

"Why would you think that? Why Regulus?" He asked, Hermione was starting to get impatient.

"Can you just answer the damn question! What happened to Regulus Black?!" She snapped at him, sparks frying from her wand and hitting him in the face. He jerked back in both fear and pain.

"I don't know, all I know is he betrayed the Dark Lord and died for it!" He said fearfully, "I never really got the in depth story about it!" Hermione pressed her wand to his face, he closed his eyes fearfully.

"Find out. Now." She said, he nodded and struggled to get away from her, but the bonds holding him in place made it impossible.

"Okay, okay! I need to floo my mum! But I can't do when I'm tied to a chair!" He yelled, Hermione nodded.

"If you try anything, I will personally hex you into next Tuesday!" She threatened, he nodded silently.

She flicked her wand at his bindings and they disappeared. He stood up, and looked around. Ginny was watching the door, Neville and Luna had their wands pointed at him and Hermione was next to him with her wand at his chest. He took a step forward, Luna and Neville twitched. He held up his hands in surrender. He slowly walked towards the door, with three of them watching him and Ginny keeping a look out. Finally Ginny poked her head out the door. Looking both ways, she slipped out of the door. Draco and the other three followed carefully. Hermione looked at him, and suddenly noticed a strange look on his face. She furrowed her brow in confusion and he looked away. They walked a little while longer, heading for Slughorn's office.

"Someone's coming!" Ginny hissed, Neville and Luna dashed into a nearby room. Ginny and Hermione grabbed Draco's arms and tried to force him into the room as well, but he wouldn't budge. Ginny glared at him threateningly,

"I'm a Slytherin, it's not weird for me to be wandering around the dungeons. Besides, she looks like Pansy. _We're_ not conspicuous, _you_ three are. Go hide, I won't run." He hissed at them, Ginny glared at him one last time, before she ran inside the empty room. Hermione plastered on a fake smile and hugged Draco's arm.

He rolled his eyes, "Come _on!_ Act like I'm Pansy!" She hissed at him venomously, he smirked at her.

"I don't think you'd want that." He said, she scoffed.

"All I need right now is to be_convincing_ to whom ever is coming!" She whispered irritably, he smirked and shrugged.

"Okay, play along, if you can." He said, she opened her mouth to reply when his lips crashed against hers. She let out a squeak as he pulled her against him. She resisted the urge to shove him off of her and hex him. The footsteps came to a halt in front of them.

"Draco, a word please." Snape said calmly. Hermione's blood ran cold. Draco ignored him completely.

"Draco. A word." Snape ordered, his tone left no room for argument. Draco finally stopped and turned his head to look at Snape.

"What? Can't you see I'm busy?" He snapped rudely, Hermione gasped at him. He smirked at her, nuzzling her neck so she had to turn away from Snape. Hermione faked a giggle, feeling nauseous and wanting nothing better than to scrub her mouth out with soap. Vigorously. Nevertheless, she giggled air headedly and cradled Draco's head as if she like his kisses.

"Draco, I must speak to you. it is imperative!" Snape insisted, Draco turned to glare at him.

"No it's not! Now please excuse me, Pansy and I were just in the middle of something!" Draco sneered, glaring at Snape.

Snape narrowed his eyes at him, "yes, you were about to be ambushed by a bunch of stupid Gryffindors, who think that I don't know they're there just because I can't see them." He said, flinging open the door to the empty room that Ginny, Neville and Luna were hiding in. But to his surprise, it was only Ginny. And she was unconscious, Hermione watched Snape's eyes widen in alarm and he rushed to her side. Checking her vitals, he sighed in relief when he seemed to discover that she was fine. He looked back at Draco and Hermione/Pansy and glared.

"This conversation is not over. I expect to see you in my office tonight Draco, without Miss Parkinson." Snape said intently, then turned back to Ginny. Draco watched with a raised eyebrow as Snape carefully pulled Ginny into his arms and picked her up. Her head lolled to one side and Snape adjusted her position so her head was supported by his shoulder. Hermione smiled a little at the tender look on his face as he handled her. Snape shot one last death glare in Draco's direction, then carefully walked away with Ginny in his arms. Hermione waited until Snape was out of sight, then shove Draco off of her. He smirked at her as she scrubbed her mouth vigorously and made gagging noises, even going so far as to scrub her tongue.

"Oh come on, you should feel honored that I would even kiss you. That was probably the best kiss you'll ever get. Only true purebloods know how to_really_ kiss." He bragged on as she continued her mouth scrubbing.

"You're not the pureblood guy I want to kiss." She commented between scrubs, then stopped with wide eyes when she realized what she had said.

He smirked and raised an eyebrow, "Let me guess, not Weasley." He said, Hermione sniffed and raised her nose in a haughty expression.

"Let's just go, I still need to know the answer to my question." She said evasively, he smirked at her.

"I know, but now we're on level terms." He said with an awful smile spreading across his face. Hermione looked at him with dread as he held up his wand.

Hermione reached for her own wand, "ah, ah, ah!" He said, pointing his wand at her. Hermione glared at him. "I need that information!" Hermione said, she was getting upset now.

Draco nodded, "I know, but what's in it for me?" He asked casually. Hermione looked confused and upset.

"I'm only asking about your deceased family member! Why do you need something in return for_that?"_ She exclaimed in indignation. He smirked his usual smirk, "because I'm a Slytherin." Hermione gave him a disgusted look.

"Fine. What do you want?" She huffed, rolling her eyes at him. He took a deep breath, seeming to be anxious about what he was asking.

"I need you and your friends to help me get my parents to safety." He said quietly, Hermione looked at him in shock.

"I will get you_any_ information you want. I don't care the price. But I _have_ to get them to safety. As long as they're safe, I can do_anything."_ He continued, Hermione looked at him for a minute. He looked so sincere, Hermione decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Okay, I'll help you." She said, he sighed in relief.

He lowered his wand, "but we have to keep this a secret, even from Potter." He added severely, Hermione nodded her assent.

"I will owl my mum and ask her to meet me in Hogsmeade. Then I need you guys to kidnap her." Draco said quietly, Hermione's eyes widened as he spoke.

"I can't be seen to have anything to do with it, otherwise it won't work. I need to be trusted by the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters. Then I can continue to help you guys without it being known." He said with such conviction, Hermione couldn't help but feel some respect for him.

"So let me get this straight, you're offering to become a double agent?" She said incredulously, he nodded solemnly. Hermione weighed her options on this. It was an incredible stroke of luck that Draco wanted this, but the reality of it was a little bit tricky.

"What if we can't get your mother out?" She asked, watching his reaction closely. He grimaced, the pain in his eyes very real.

"Then I will be in a_very_ difficult position, and either way I'd have to carry out any orders given to me by the Dark Lord." He said, the dark burning look in his eyes made her feel sorry for him. She chewed her lip, thinking about how to get this done.

"Okay, I have an idea. But give me some time to get things set up, okay?"

He nodded, "It would be best if I asked my mum when I meet her, and not before. It would be less suspicious."

Hermione nodded again, "How will you let us know when she's coming?"

Draco thought about that for a minute. "I'll pick a fight with you in class." Draco said, Hermione's expression soured.

"Why don't you just bump into me in the hallway or something, I don't know, send me an anonymous letter! I don't understand why you have to be such a prat all the time." Hermione vented a bit, Draco's eyebrows lifted in surprise.

"Um, okay... I guess that could work." He nodded absentmindedly, Hermione let out a breath of relief. They stood there for a moment, then Hermione felt the potion starting to wear off. Draco watched in weird fascination as Hermione changed back into her normal self. He stared as the robes she was wearing stretched a little too tightly. Hermione took her wand out and fixed the robes so they fit better.

"Just one question, Malfoy." She said, he looked back at her with a bored and sardonic expression on his face.

"Why?" She said finally, he blinked in surprise.

"Why what?" He inquired.

"Why are you switching sides? Especially now that You-Know-Who is almost at his height of power? It just seems rather un-Slytherin of you." She said, he smirked at her.

"Are you trying to talk me out of it?" Her eyes widened, "No! It just seems out of character for you... You know, with all the bullying and what not." She said quietly, he shrugged.

"I guess, I know for certain that you won't harm them, as opposed to the Dark Lord, who would definitely harm them if they displeased him." He said it so softly Hermione almost didn't catch it. She nodded in sympathy, but he shrugged it off.

Snape carried Miss Weasley carefully, making sure that she was not uncomfortable, despite the fact that she was still unconscious. Her breathing and heartbeat were fine, so whatever it was, it was not life threatening. He took the long way around to the hospital wing, not wanting to be seen carrying her and not really wanting to stop carrying her either, for some reason. He wondered why she was unconscious, and why she wouldn't seem to wake up. He could not detect any dark magic on her, so it wasn't that bad. He was annoyed at how little time had passed before he arrived at the hospital wing. He put on his sour face and pushed the doors open with his shoulder. Madame Pomphrey was busy with a few other students, so he gently placed her on a hospital bed quite far from the entrance. He felt her pulse again, and found it was fine. He turned her head from one side to the other, looking for some clue as to her condition. Suddenly he noticed some crumbs on her mouth. His temper flared slightly, and he opened her mouth to find a magical treat stuffed in her mouth. He pulled it out and searched her robes for the other half.

But he could not find it anywhere, so he simply whispered, "finite incantatum." Ginny inhaled deeply as she came to. Her eyes opened and she looked around at her surroundings first in confusion and then alarm. Snape's temper died when he noticed the look on her face. Ginny had turned white, and she looked terrified.

"Miss Weasley." Snape said in a quiet and controlled voice. Her head jerked to look up at him. He almost didn't need to use Legilimancy to know what she was thinking.

"How did I get here?" She whispered in dread, thinking that she had somehow been possessed again.

"It's alright Miss Weasley, I found you unconscious in the dungeons. I brought you here, thinking something was wrong only to find this in your mouth." He said rather sternly, holding up the offending treat with two long fingers.

"Would you care to explain?" His dark tone making almost wince. She took a deep breath, trying to remember what had happened. She bit her lip,

"I didn't eat that thing if that's what you think. I don't have any reason_to_ take it. I hate that one, and going unconscious is not... pleasant." She said, sounding very guarded towards the end. His glare faded when he realized what she was saying.

"You don't like going unconscious because it reminds you of what happened when you were eleven?" He inquired softly, Ginny stiffened a little. He could sense her dislike of talking about _that._ She gave a little jerky nod, but that was all.

"So, what were you doing in the dungeons?" Snape asked her. Ginny huffed, she was reluctant to tell him, but disliked lying to him. So she chose her words carefully.

"I was there to meet up with some of my friends, to pull a prank on Malfoy. But something went wrong, and somebody shoved the Fainting Fancy in my mouth. And then I woke up here."

She said with certainty, Snape could almost believe her. "So where are your friends now? Why did I only find _you_ in the classroom?" He asked further, Ginny gave an exasperated sigh.

"I don't know where my friends are. As I said, they shove the fancy in my mouth and then I woke up here. I don't know where they went after that." She said, running through it in her mind a little bit, trying to figure out what happened for herself. Snape nodded, adequately satisfied with her answer. Ginny glanced up at Snape and for a moment they locked eyes. But he looked away, making Ginny feel a little disappointed.

"You're free to go, seeing as you were not actually sick." He said in a calm, indifferent manner. Ginny huffed quietly at his tone, but simply nodded and complied, getting out of the hospital bed and walking past Snape.

He watched her go, feeling the urge to call her back and talk to her about something. "Miss Weasley," Snape said quietly, Ginny paused at the door. 'If you ever need help, with dealing with... That, I'm always here. I can help you." He said, Ginny was surprised at his words. She had not expected that from_him_ of all people. She smiled at him, even though he wasn't looking,

"thank you sir, I will keep that in mind... And, you have helped me, with that... More than you know."

She said so quietly it was almost a whisper. He looked back at her, surprise and confusion written on his face. She only smiled at him warmly, and walked out of the door.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Not the story or the songs.

Ginny walked out of the hospital wing feeling warm and happy. Until suddenly her pocket started squirming, she gasped in surprise and nearly jumped out of her skin.

She ripped her cloak off and threw it on the ground, as she did, she heard a familiar voice say, "Ouch! Luna!" Ginny pulled out her wand and approached the squirming pocket carefully. She nudged it with a toe and then jumped back very quickly.

If it had not been for that voice, she would have run and gotten Snape immediately. Watching in a mixture of horror and fascination, Ginny witnessed a head and shoulders emerge from the pocket. With a grunt of effort, the head and shoulders pulled themselves out of the pocket and became a full person. It was Neville, she watched wide-eyed as he reached back into the pocket and pulled out Luna. Ginny gaped, unable to articulate words for a moment.

Neville looked up at her and smiled brightly. "I can't believe we outsmarted that greasy bat!" He crowed in exhilaration, Luna smiled dreamily at his excitement. Ginny rolled her eyes, torn between defending Snape and encouraging her friends. She huffed rather loudly to get their attention, the two looked at her with surprised expressions.

"Next time, let me in on the plan_before_ you just shove something in my mouth. I don't like just abruptly passing out!" She snapped a little more harshly than she meant to and judging by her friends' hurt expression, harsher than necessary.

She winced, "Sorry guys, I didn't mean to be that rough. I just... Don't like passing out, and waking up somewhere else, it... scares me." She said dejectedly, looking at the floor.

Her friends were quiet for a moment, "It reminds you of when you were possessed by You-Know-Who." Luna said matter-of-factly, Neville's eyes widened in alarm.

"Oh Ginny, I'm so sorry! I'd totally forgotten about that!" Ginny looked at him with grim smile, "Lucky you." At that point, Neville looked behind her with wide eyes. Ginny had a feeling she knew who it was. She turned to see who was behind her, it was Snape of course. He looked down at her with a neutral expression on his face.

"Morbid humor, Miss Weasley? How odd." She blinked in surprise, "Odd?" She wasn't sure if he was paying her a compliment or insulting her. She figured he wanted it that way, and the way he turned to her friends and folded his arms, told her that he wasn't going to answer.

"So, Mr. Longbottom, Miss Lovegood, what role did you have in Miss Weasley's fainting spell?" He asked them in dark tone, his smooth voice made Ginny shiver. Thanking Merlin she was out of his line of sight, she bit her thumbnail nervously as a blush creeped up her neck and across her cheeks. She felt guilty that he was reprimanding her friends, but she was getting distracted by his voice.

Neville went completely white and Luna looked up at him calmly, as serene as ever. "I believe I asked you two a question." He said in a smooth and almost dangerous tone. Ginny had goosebumps, she knew she should be alarmed at his tone but she was not feeling anxious at all.

Luna was the one to finally answer, "I forgot which one it was, I thought it was just the nosebleed one, I'm sorry sir. The Snorkaks have been-"

"Don't bother blathering on about such nonsense. Detention, the both of you, tomorrow night." Snape sneered impatiently, waving his hand to make Luna stop talking. Neville looked devastated, making Ginny feel bad for him. She realized that just because_she_ didn't mind Snape, didn't mean that anything had changed for poor Neville.

Ginny felt the need to do something, but knew better than to argue with Snape. That would only make it worse for her friends and she didn't want Snape mad at her. On impulse, she tugged his sleeve very lightly, causing him to whip his head around and look her straight in the eye. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Biting her lip, she tried to find that confidence she had normally.

Snape raised an eyebrow expectantly. Ginny winced internally, her face growing hot as she embarrassed herself further by not having anything to say.

"Speak." He commanded her almost softly, she inhaled deeply and cleared her throat.

"I feel slightly responsible as well, I was the one trying to orchestrate a prank on Malfoy in the dungeons." She said finally, her voice nearly a whisper.

"I'm not sure if I'm hearing this correctly, is Ginny Weasley volunteering for a detention?" Snape said as he smirked, something akin to amusement dancing in his eyes. She blushed so badly, her face and hair were the same color. He had said her name, and she was amusing to him. She thought she could die, or melt into nothing right there in that spot. Her eyes hit the floor and didn't move, her emotions running at full speed as they galloped powerful laps inside her heart. She wasn't sure if she was mortified or just feeling really shy, but either way, it was hard to breathe through the pounding in her chest.

"Very well, detention with your friends, tomorrow night, my office. I will see you three promptly at seven." He conceded in a lazy drawl, as nonchalant as ever.

He tried to leave, but stopped when he noticed Ginny still holding onto the sleeve of his robe. She let go quickly, he paused for a moment and then left without a word. Neville looked at her his mouth agape.

Ginny couldn't look him in the eye, "what? Did you think I'd let deal with Snape alone?" She mumbled in a sheepish manner, throwing her arms up in apparent annoyance.

Luna patted Neville on the shoulder in an effort to help him get over whatever he was feeling. Ginny wasn't sure what Neville was thinking of her right then but she really needed some air, a lot of it actually. She mumbled some lame excuse to the two of them and then wandered dreamily out the front doors. Her feet seemed to move on their own accord, carrying her all the way out to the great lake.

The sun was just setting over the horizon and it reflected beautifully off the water. Once she was there, she spread her arms out straight and fell on her back. Her heart was still pounding from her encounter, her head in a little bit of a daze. He said her name. He called her by her first name.

_"I'm not sure if I'm hearing this correctly, is Ginny Weasley volunteering for a detention?" _She replayed his voice over in her head, loving the way he said her first name. Her dazed happiness was interrupted by Neville's face coming into her view.

"Ginny? Are you okay?" She stared at him for a minute, slowly coming back to reality.

"I voluntarily got myself put in detention, with Snape." She said, as if that was the answer to his question.

"Merlin's beard Ginny, I think you've gone mad!" Neville responded in alarm. Ginny blinked, "I've not gone mad, Neville!" She snapped indignantly, he looked relieved.

She got to her feet and noticed Luna standing there as well. "I told him you were fine but wanted to check on you anyway." Luna said with a smile. Ginny smiled back, then turned to Neville.

"I'm fine, honestly. Thanks for checking on me." She told him kindly, he nodded but there was a hard look in his eyes that gave Ginny the idea that he knew something was up with her and Snape.

"He's so nice to you. I was almost like he was defending you." He said suspiciously, Ginny bit her lip nervously.

"He... He was the one who checked me out after Harry pulled me out of the Chamber of Secrets. You know, made sure I was okay, and didn't have any lingering dark curses or magic on me. So I guess he has a vested interest in keeping me in good health, you know." She explained carefully, this was something she had never told even her parents. Neville looked at her in surprise, his eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open.

Ginny smiled at him, "so, even though he acts like a bully sometimes, he is a good man. He helped me a lot, to come to terms with what happened and to get on with life afterwards." Even Luna looked amazed, and Neville looked like he really didn't want to believe it.

She didn't really like talking about that time, but she felt it was important because Neville was her friend. She remembered all the times after that, she used to hang out in his office and do her homework; because no one wanted to talk to her or be friends with her. Sometimes she talked to him, but other times just his company alone was enough for her. This was a secret she kept to herself for years and didn't plan on divulging it now.

Suddenly she looked around, "what time is it?" She asked in sudden alarm. The sun had all but set, the dark shadows from the forest reaching out across the grounds as though they were claws of some great monster intent on catching them.

Neville looked at his watch, "Umm... We have five minutes until curfew."

Ginny's eyes bulged, "Oh fuck! Merlin's hairy bollocks! We're going to be late!" Neville moaned in despair, "I hope Snape doesn't catch us!"

Ginny was trying to find a solution, "I wish I was an Animagus, then it would be easy to sneak around without being caught." Luna said wistfully, Ginny had an idea like a bolt of lightning struck her.

"I think I have an idea, both short term and long term." She said with excitement, Neville looked at her with a desperate hope. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at Neville, whispering a spell. Neville yelped in alarm as his body shrunk and shriveled.

Ginny turned to Luna who smiled at her trustingly, Ginny took a deep breath and said the same spell. Luna began to shrink as well. They were both little munchkin cats. She looked at them and squeaked, overwhelmed by their cuteness. She stroked their soft fur and then picked them up. Hurrying as fast as she could, she arrived at the doors in record time. Needing her hands free, she stuffed them into her still extendable pocket. She pushed on the door and almost fell over when it flew open.

It was Snape of course. He looked surprised to see her, as though he was intending to walk through the doors without encountering anyone. He caught her as she stumbled, then raised a questioning brow. Blushing, Ginny decided to have a little fun.

"Professor! There you are! I was just coming to look for you!" She said energetically, he looked nonplussed. She was going to have to try much harder to get to him.

"I needed some help procuring illegal potions ingredients for the secret potion I'm making for all the Gryffindors." She stated in a calm and innocent opened his mouth to say something, but paused, as if to censure his words.

"Miss Weasley, as gifted at potions as you may seem to think you are, I highly doubt you have moral standards low enough to accomplish something like that successfully. Please don't waste my time." Ginny's mouth fell open in indignation, "well, when you put it like that I'm actually tempted to do it!"She threatened him, a hand on her hip and the other waving a finger at him admonishingly.

He lifted an eyebrow, as if to say 'oh really?' Ginny started running through her knowledge of dark and nasty potions. But before she could think of something specific, Snape leaned in towards her. His lips brushed her ear and she stopped moving or thinking for a moment, listening intently to what he whispered in her ear.

"Don't think you can fool me twice Miss Weasley." He purred, sending shivers down her spine. She realized to late that he had reached into her pocket and pulled out the two mewling munchkin kittens she had stowed away. Her blood ran cold when he held them up in front of her eyes.

"M-my k-kittens!" She exclaimed in horror and embarrassment at being out-foxed so easily.

His face held a nasty smile, holding them up higher when Ginny tried to make a grab for them. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at them. There was the faintest of scraping noises from behind Snape, Ginny recognized the familiar noise. She tackled Snape with all her might as a big something burst out from behind him, took hold of the back of his cloak and giving it a massive heave, knocking him off his feet.

Ginny scrambled up his torso as he fell, reaching for the two kittens. Snape grunted as he hit the floor and Ginny tucked and rolled off of him. Two kittens in hand. As Ginny scrambled to her feet, her legs suddenly locked together and she fell to the ground, sending the kittens sliding across the floor. The 'something from behind' was in fact a large brown dog. It took off after the kittens and scooped them up in her jaws. The kittens dangled precariously from her light grip on their furry bodies.

"Run! Save yourselves! Don't wait for me!" Ginny called out dramatically, holding out her arm to them. The dog scrambled around a corner and out of sight. Ginny looked back at a very displeased Professor Snape. She began rethinking her decisions in life this past evening.

"Wait! Come back! Don't leave me here!" She yelled again, dragging herself across the floor with her arms. Snape, having gotten to his feet, grabbed her by her ankles and pulled her back towards him. Ginny let out an "eep!" Picking her up by her waist, he easily tossed her over his shoulder and carried her off towards the dungeons.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked him anxiously, "my office of course." He answered coolly, she could tell he was pissed at her.

"Why?" She shot back fearfully, "well, let's see, you were found outside after curfew, you admitted to attempting to purchase illegal potions items and planned to use them on your fellow students. You're carrying suspicious animals in your pocket, you attacked a teacher and then proceeded to try to flee. With your teacher on the ground. What more reason do I need to take you to my office. You heard the Headmaster, anyone found breaking curfew would be expelled." He snapped, his tone cold, Ginny's heart sank.

"No sir, I'm sorry! Please don't tell the Headmaster! I was just kidding about the illegal potions! It was a joke! Obviously a very bad one! I'm sorry for tackling you sir!" Ginny whimpered fearfully.

Snape said nothing, apparently immune to her pleadings. This didn't stop her even the least bit as she pleaded with him all the way to his office. Once there, she heard some clanging noises and started getting very anxious. Finally, after a few minutes the noises stopped. He sat her down on the edge of his desk, still leaning over her with one hand on the desk. He held up his other hand to her, "Wand." He stated calmly,

"Sir, please, I'm sorry!_Please_, don't do this." She begged him fearfully, he did not look effected in the least bit. "Wand." He insisted, Ginny bit her lip.

"I-I need my legs unlocked, sir." she all but whispered sadly, her voice cracking a little bit. He raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Suddenly her legs were freed though. So she bent down, coming so close to him she could feel the heat from his body and pulled her wand from the inner side of her right knee length sock. She placed it in his hand without looking at him.

She took a shaky breath and swallowed the emotions welling up inside her. When she was sure she had her emotions in check, she looked up at him. He was looking at her expectantly, Ginny furrowed her brow in confusion and Snape pointed to the huge pile of filthy cauldrons. Her eyes widened and she looked up at him in horror.

"Get started Miss Weasley." He ordered forcefully. Ginny nodded glumly and walked over to the first cauldron, to find a bucket of soapy water and a scrub brush waiting for her. She slowly rolled up her sleeves and got to her knees.

"The longer you take, the longer you'll be here. Get started." He snapped at her.

She grabbed the brush and started cleaning the inside of the cauldron, scrubbing as hard as she could. After a while, she was tired of the silence and started to scrub to a rhythm. Ginny found her head bobbing to the beat in her head. She began humming to herself quietly. Soon she was singing quietly,

Four letter word just to get me along  
It's a difficulty and I'm biting on my tongue  
And I I keep stalling, keeping me together  
People around gotta find something to say now  
Holding back, everyday the same  
Don't wanna be a loner  
Listen to me, oh no I never say anything at all  
But with nothing to consider they forget my name (ame, ame, ame)

They call me "Hell"  
They call me "Stacey"  
They call me "her"  
They call me "Jane"  
That's not my name  
That's not my name  
That's not my name  
That's not my name  
They call me "quiet girl"  
But I'm a riot Mary, Jo, Lisa  
Always the same  
That's not my name  
That's not my name  
That's not my name  
That's not my name

I miss the catch if they throw me the ball  
I'm the last chick standing up against the wall  
Keep up, falling, these heels they keep me boring  
Getting glammed up and sitting on the fence now  
So alone all the time at night  
Lock myself away  
Listen to me, I'm not  
Although I'm dressed up, out and all with  
Everything considered they forget my name (ame, ame, ame)

They call me "Hell" (This song was in my head)  
They call me "Stacey" (Now it's in my mind)  
They call me "her" (Call it, reach it, get some words and get some timing)  
They call me "Jane"  
That's not my name (And though I realize I cannot emphasize)  
That's not my name (I'll stick around but just don't promise, nothing binding)  
That's not my name  
That's not my name  
They call me "quiet girl" (And baby, can't you see, that you're so desperately)  
But I'm a riot Mary, Jo, Lisa (A standing joker like a vocal one-liner)  
Always the same  
That's not my name (Instead of sing-a-long) (this song is monotone)  
That's not my name  
That's not my name (I've gotta get some soul, I gotta get some feeling)  
That's not my name

Are you calling me darling?  
Are you calling me bird?  
Are you calling me darling?  
Are you calling me bird?

They call me "Hell"  
They call me "Stacey" (Are you calling me darling?)  
They call me "her"  
They call me "Jane"  
That's not my name  
That's not my name  
That's not my name  
That's not my name  
They call me "quiet girl"  
But I'm a riot Mary, Jo, Lisa (Are you calling me bird?)  
Always the same  
That's not my name  
That's not my name  
That's not my name  
That's not my name

They call me "Hell" (This song was in my head)  
They call me "Stacey" (Now it's in my mind)  
They call me "her" (Call it, reach it, get some words and get some timing)  
They call me "Jane"  
That's not my name (And though I realize I cannot emphasize)  
That's not my name (I'll stick around but just don't promise, nothing binding)  
That's not my name  
That's not my name  
They call me "quiet girl" (And baby, can't you see, that you're so desperately)  
But I'm a riot Mary, Jo, Lisa (A standing joker like a vocal one-liner)  
Always the same  
That's not my name (Instead of sing-a-long) (this song is monotone)  
That's not my name  
That's not my name (I've gotta get some soul, I gotta get some feeling)  
That's not my name

They call me "Hell" (This song was in my head)  
They call me "Stacey" (Now it's in my mind)  
They call me "her" (Call it, reach it, get some words and get some timing)  
They call me "Jane"  
That's not my name (And though I realize I cannot emphasize)  
That's not my name (I'll stick around but just don't promise, nothing binding)  
That's not my name  
That's not my name  
They call me "quiet girl" (And baby, can't you see, that you're so desperately)  
But I'm a riot Mary, Jo, Lisa (A standing joker like a vocal one-liner)  
Always the same  
That's not my name (Instead of sing-a-long) (this song is monotone)  
That's not my name  
That's not my name (I've gotta get some soul, I gotta get some feeling)  
That's not my name

This song was in my head  
Now it's in my mind  
Call it, reach it, get some words and get some timing  
And though I realize  
I cannot emphasize  
I'll stick around but just don't promise, nothing binding  
And baby, can't you see  
That you're so desperately  
A standing joker like a vocal one-liner  
Instead of sing-a-long  
This song is monotone  
I've gotta get some soul, I gotta get some feeling

She was wiggling to the beat and singing into the cauldron, forgetting that Snape was there. Finishing one cauldron, she started the next one turning it on it's side to reach certain places better.

Once she finished the song, Snape commented dryly, "very nice Miss Weasley. Now please go faster, I'd like to get_some_ sleep tonight." Making Ginny jump and hit her head on the cauldron.

"Ow." She said in response, pulling her head from the offending cauldron and sitting back on her haunches to rub the sore spot. She looked up at him with one eye closed, blushing a little bit.

"I forgot you were there." She answered in response to his questioning eyebrow. He pursed his lips, steepled his fingers and nodded towards the cauldron. "Keep working." Was all he said to her.

Ginny sighed, "Sometimes I think you get amused, but I'm never sure. You're always so guarded, I don't think I've ever seen you genuinely smile about something. I almost wish you would, because life sucks sometimes and it always helps make things a little better if you smile." She said with a shrug, then turned back around and continued scrubbing.

Snape stared at her in surprise, once again caught completely off-guard by her. Ginny started humming again, quietly. He just sat back and listened to her voice, not saying anything and trying not to move, hoping she would just continue singing. He was in luck, she started to sing something that sounded like it was fairly old.

Well sometimes I go out by myself  
And I look across the water  
And I think of all the things, what you're doing  
And in my head I paint a picture

'Cause since I've come on home  
Well my body's been a mess  
And I've missed your ginger hair  
And the way you like to dress  
Won't you come on over  
Stop making a fool out of me  
Why don't you come on over Valerie?

Valerie  
Valerie  
Valerie

Did you have to go to jail  
Put your house up for sale, did you get a good lawyer?  
I hope you didn't catch a tan  
I hope you'll find the right man who'll fix it for ya  
And are you shopping anywhere  
Changed the color of your hair, are you busy?  
And did you have to pay that fine  
You were dodging all the time, are you still dizzy?

'Cause since I've come on home  
Well my body's been a mess  
And I've missed your ginger hair  
And the way you like to dress  
Won't you come on over  
Stop making a fool out of me  
Why don't you come on over Valerie?

Valerie  
Valerie  
Valerie

Well sometimes I go out by myself  
And I look across the water  
And I think of all the things, what you're doing  
And in my head I paint a picture

'Cause since I've come on home  
Well my body's been a mess  
And I've missed your ginger hair  
And the way you like to dress  
Won't you come on over  
Stop making a fool out of me  
Why don't you come on over Valerie?

Valerie  
Valerie  
Valerie  
Valerie  
Valerie  
Valerie  
Valerie  
Valerie

Why don't come over Valerie?

He didn't know why, but liked that song a lot. Even more when she sang it. Her voice was beautiful, not weak or out of tune. Just pure, perfect, gold. Snape closed his eyes and listened, feeling happier in that moment then he could quite remember feeling. Ever.

By the time she finished singing it, he had almost smiled. He heard her make a little 'rrkh' sound and saw her stretching, reminding him of the hour. Reality came washing back over him. He let out a little sigh of disappointment, wishing he could have stayed in that moment just a little longer. She looked up at him when she heard his sigh.

Snape looked at her for a second, deliberating on whether or not to call it a night. She did have detention again tomorrow, but the other two would be there and she wouldn't sing so freely in front of them.

"Miss Weasley, you'll continue this the day after tomorrow. For now... You should... Go to bed." He told her with extreme reluctance, he wished she would sing for him all the time.

Or was simply present. He wished she didn't have to part with him. He could just keep her with him, safe and happy, with him. Snape banished those thoughts immediately. She was still too young, even though sometimes she showed intelligence and even wisdom far beyond her years. She nodded and got up to go, but stopped at the door and looked back at him.

He gave her a little awkward half smile and whatever she was going to say died on her lips. She smiled back, her heart doing flips in her chest. As she turned to leave again, he called out to her.

"Miss Weasley," She looked back as he strode forward, coming to stand next to her.

"I should probably escort you to your dormitory, in case you run into more trouble on your way there." He explained to her questioning look.

She smiled and nodded happily, still standing there looking up at him. He calmly gestured for her to go forward and she jumped to begin walking. Turning away to hide her embarrassment, she walked quickly ahead of him. Snape fell in step with her easily, his long strides making her have to walk twice as fast just to keep up. He slowed a little bit, to make it easier for her to keep up.

"Professor, may I ask you something?" She began timidly, "I believe you just did." He pointed out, she blushed a little.

"I wanted to know, why you dislike Neville so much?" She inquired, Snape's eyebrow raised.

He paused a little while before answering. "He is terrible at potions, I do not believe he even tries. And that is unacceptable to me." Ginny quiet for a moment, biting her lip in thought.

"Pardon me for saying sir, but when I speak to Neville, he says he really does try." Ginny said in a quiet tone, he could tell she was trying to be polite.

He sighed heavily, "I'm not perfect Miss Weasley, far from actually." He said to her in soft tone.

She nodded, "I know Professor, but... I guess, I believe in the decency I see in you sometimes. And I think you are capable of... More, I guess. You always seem to be on the fence, you know, not wholly_good_, but not totally bad either. And, I guess you could sort of lean one way or the other. But I really hope you lean towards good. Because I think you might like it."

He looked mildly surprised and slightly amused, "that's quite a speech Miss Weasley." She blushed, her face the same color as her hair.

"I'm glad you seem to think so highly of me," he began, "you helped_me._" She said very quietly, he turned to her in surprise.

"I'm sorry I didn't catch that." He told her, Ginny looked up at him shyly, "you helped me, when I came out of the Chamber of Secrets. Remember, you were the one to verify that I didn't have any lingering dark magic from my... Incident. And then after that, when no one wanted to be around me, you let me study in your office so I wouldn't be alone all the time." Snape looked at her in surprise.

"I hadn't realized that had made such a big impact on you." He was taken aback by her genuine smile and gratefulness over something that had seemed so small and inconsequential at the time.

"See? Sometimes it's the little things that make a big impact. I know it sounds silly, but as a twelve-year-old, to have someone be willing to be around you when no one else is, it makes you feel a little less alone. Like, maybe it's not you that's the problem, but everyone else." She told him, her tone made it clear she was speaking from the heart. He smiled at her a little bit.

"You're very kind Miss Weasley, I'm happy to know that I had such a positive effect on you."

They arrived at the Portrait hole and Ginny turned to look at Snape one last time before she headed to bed. She opened her mouth to say something, but Snape cut her off.

"I will see you and your two friends tomorrow, promptly at seven." He informed her in a calm but authoritative manner, Ginny nodded silently and turned to leave.

"And Miss Weasley," she turned back to him, "do_try_ to stay out of trouble, you're one of my brightest students and I'd hate to see you expelled for doing something stupid." He drawled casually, looking bored and slightly annoyed.

She smiled at him kindly and nodded, "I will sir, goodnight." Ginny gave the password to the Fat Lady and the Portrait swung open. She looked back at him one last time before climbing through the Portrait hole and closing it behind her.

The Fat Lady gave him a skeptical look and he glared back at her until she looked away appearing offended. He didn't care. The Fat Lady sniffed at him in distain, turning away to fiddle with her dress. He shrugged at the portrait and went on his way.

Hermione sat by the fire, waiting to see if Sirius would come by and visit her. To her dismay, he didn't. She needed to talk to him, urgently. If she was going keep her end of the bargain with Malfoy, she really needed some reinforcements.

Her only shot without telling Harry, or anyone for that matter, would ride on the help she got from Sirius. It was getting late, and she needed to get some sleep if she was going to pay attention in class tomorrow. She heard the portrait door open and Ginny walked in, Hermione opened her mouth to call her over but stopped when she saw the look on Ginny's face.

The dreamy happy look on her face could only mean one person; Snape. He always made her ridiculously cheerful or angry. She had a sneaking suspicious he only made her angry when he intended to, she had noticed his ability to manipulate his students mentally and emotionally to his whim. Ginny in particular, he had begun to seem really fond of just generally and sometimes, Hermione got a little concerned about it.

She knew Ginny liked Snape; but she wasn't totally sure what Snape felt for Ginny, other than a certain fondness he displayed towards her occasionally. She watched quietly as Ginny stomped up to her room. Hermione heaved a deep sigh, full of troubled feelings and frustration. She looked back at the fire to see Sirius's head looking up at her. Hermione gasped in fright, not expecting to see him at all.

"Sirius!" She exclaimed, struggling to keep her voice down.

He smiled at her, "hello love, I assume that you want to speak to me, considering how late you're up tonight." Hermione nodded happily, wishing she could hug him. She sat next to the fire and leaned in as close as she could.

"I need your help with something." She regaled him with the incident with Malfoy (omitting some unimportant things like the kissing...) and watched his smile grow at their antics. Hermione knew he was proud of them for getting away with something like that.

But he grew a little serious when she told him about Malfoy's deal. "I don't think it's a good idea to trust that kid. He has the smell of bad news all over him." Sirius told her in an uncharacteristically dark tone. Hermione was surprised at this, just last year he was all for the creation of Dumbledore's Army.

"I need your help, I have a plan. But it only works if you're there." Hermione said with her usual certainty, making him smile.

"I'm glad you have a plan, I would be very worried about you if you didn't." He answered her kindly, making Hermione go a little pink. She could not help but be affected by his ridiculous good looks, her heart fluttered at his soft tone.

"W-what I was planning was," She took a deep breath to calm herself down, Sirius's grey eyes flashed with something like recognition.

"Malfoy's planning on meeting his mother in Hogsmeade. I'll be there with Ginny, Neville and Luna, but there are a million and one ways that could go wrong, four teenagers against a full grown witch is not the kind of odds I like. What I need from you is to slip her a portkey. And I need you to do it_before_ she gets to the meeting with her son. Preferably the moment she arrives in Hogsmeade. So, I was thinking to disguise you as some random person in the street and have you bump into her, slipping the portkey into her pocket. It would need to be charmed to activate with her touch instead of time." She explained in a very business-like fashion.

Sirius smiled at her, Hermione knew he had noticed that he was having an effect her and tried harder to keep her cool. She would absolutely_not_ let him think he could charm her. She was Hermione Granger for Merlin's sake! He nodded his assent and Hermione sat up a little straighter, holding her head up a little higher.

"Well good, so now that we have that covered, Malfoy's going to ask his mom about Regulus's death. And then he'll relay that information to me." She told him in a little bit of a bossy tone, not really looking at him.

"Well okay, looks like you've got everything wrapped up nicely!" He answered, his tone light and teasing. Hermione felt the flush in her cheeks and heard the low chuckle from Sirius. She huffed and shot him a dirty look. He grinned broadly as she looked at him, making her cheeks burn and she looked down at her lap.

"How are you holding up, love?" Sirius asked her in that soft, caring tone he had begun using when speaking to her. Hermione looked up at him, caught off-guard by his unexpected care for her.

"I'm fine, a little stressed about all the different secrets I'm keeping from different people, particularly Harry. I have you, this thing with Malfoy, I have Ginny's secrets, and the Animagus thing- which is a little less secret now that Neville and Luna know. In fact, Neville wants me to teach him, tutor him actually, in Transfiguration. Luna as well, they want to become Animagus's. And I have to keep all of this from Harry and Ron. And then there's all the stuff that Harry tells Ron and I, that I can't tell anyone else. And then, with all of that I still have all my school work to do, classes to take and now that Ginny and I have conquered becoming Animagus's, she thinks we should learn Occlumency and Legillimancy. You know, as if having one illegal magical skill is not enough!" She said almost hysterically, Sirius nodded sympathetically at her.

"So, what about you, what are you up to?" Hermione asked him, feeling awkward for just unloading on him like that.

He chuckled, "well, I don't think my life_nearly_ as complicated as yours is, but I definitely have some secrets to keep as well. It's actually pretty boring so far, I'm working on something with Snape. Surprising, I know but it's for the greater good. Believe me, if it weren't for that, I wouldn't work with him. But, actually, I think I'd like to show you something." He said a little mischievously, Hermione looked at him a little fearfully.

"I'm not sure I could handle anymore secrets." He shook his head, "no secrets! Just a little bit of fun!"

Hermione bit her lip, "I don't know Sirius, It's getting awful late..." He smiled at her, "Hermione, it's me. Don't worry, it'll be fine." She still looked anxious, "but Sirius, your brand of fun can be a little bit dangerous..." Her dubious attitude made him roll his eyes.

"Come on Hermione, I promise it will be completely safe. And besides you're with me, I'll keep you safe." He insisted, sounding a little bit miffed at her resistance.

Hermione felt bad about it so she nodded to him. "Okay, I'm in." Sirius's face split into a huge grin. "Okay, hold on one second." He told her, his face disappearing from the fire.

Hermione took a deep breath, "oh Merlin, what am I getting myself into?" There was a whoosh from the fire and Sirius's hand appeared. Hermione grabbed it and was pulled through the fire to the house that Sirius was staying in. She looked around the dark dusty room in curiosity, sneezing when she looked up at the ceiling. Sirius handed her a tissue from no where.

"Sorry, it's a bit dusty in here." He commented casually, Hermione raised her eyebrows for a moment, "Yeah, you're not kidding." Sirius chuckled as he let Hermione look around a little bit. The ceiling was high, vaulted and made from wood, with an exceptionally dusty and unused crystal chandelier. There was an ornately carved staircase curving out from the far wall and there was a large window looking out over a lush, but overgrown garden.

"Where are we?" She asked quietly, the place seemed so quiet and isolated that almost begged for silence from it's occupants. "Somewhere in Scotland, I'm not sure exactly." Sirius answered in a normal tone of voice, seemingly unconcerned about the hushed feel of the place.

Hermione felt like she shouldn't be surprised at this, "I think I've seen this place before. Was it in A History of Magic or something?" She asked him curiously, Sirius looked at her funny.

"Not at all, this is an abandoned Hart mansion. you wouldn't have seen it anywhere for the last 400 years at least." Hermione was confused, "that can't be, I've seen this place, I've even_been_ here before. I swear it. What mansion did you say it was?" She continued distractedly, she could almost_see_ the place all lit up and full of life and people. She somehow knew where everything was, the upstairs bedrooms, all the different places inside and out.

"Hart. Hermione, that's physically impossible. This place has been empty for longer than you've been alive. The Harts were an extremely old and powerful wizarding family. But they died out hundreds of years ago, they were always feuding with the Blacks, unfortunately you can see who won. Back in the medieval times the Blacks and the Harts were wizarding royalty. On opposing sides." Sirius said in a low and regretful tone.

Hermione looked at him curiously, noticing her look, he sighed ruefully. "My namesake, Sirius Black the first, was the heir to the Black Throne. But he threw it all away to fight on the opposing side of the war than his whole family, and he fell in love with the Hart Princess, Gracelynn." Hermione felt like she had been struck with a billion volts of electricity, a childhood memory coming unbidden to her mind.

_Four-year-old Hermione was playing court in her room. She was mid admonishing one of her teddy bears for doing something wrong when her mother cut in, "Hermione dear, dinner's ready." _

_Hermione turned to her mother. But it wasn't her mother, it was the woman taking care of her for now. In a fit of rage she turned to the woman, _

_"My name is NOT Hermione, it is Gracelynn Hart, heir to the Harts lineage and prestige. And you will address me as such!" The woman put her hands on her hips, _

_"No, your name is Hermione Granger, you are my daughter, and you will come down to dinner this instant." Mrs. Granger in a tone that left no possibility for argument or back talk. Little Hermione glared at her for a moment, but conceded when her stomach started growling. _

_She blinked a few times, then looked up at her mother and nodded dutifully. "Yes mother." She said in placid tone, her previous outburst completely forgotten. Right, of course she was Hermione Granger, what silliness was she thinking?_

Hermione felt a sudden extreme disquiet about her past. "Merlin's beard, Hermione, are you okay? You look like you've seen the dead come to life." Sirius half joked, Hermione didn't respond. Hermione was broken from her reverie by Sirius putting his arm around her. She blinked a few times, but forgot what she had just been thinking of.

"What? Sorry, I guess I just got lost in thought. What were you saying?" She asked him politely, Sirius looked at her in a slightly perturbed fashion. She looked back quizzically, he plastered a grin on his face again, hiding his anxiety about her.

"C'mon, let's go to the garden, I have something to show you." He told her, sounding like a happy puppy. He tugged her shoulders and she followed his lead, amused at how he kept his arm around her.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Sirius led Hermione outside and into the garden. She was hit with another wave of strange deja vu and stumbled, but was pulled forward by Sirius, who seemed unfazed by it. His arm was firmly around her shoulders and kept her from falling. She glanced up at his smiling face but did a double take when she noticed that his smile did not reach his eyes. This concerned her slightly, he looked down at her, apparently sensing her gaze on him. He smiled warmly down at her, this time it was reflected in his eyes. Hermione felt very warm and fuzzy inside, she blushed and looked down. She felt that he cared about her very much, although she couldn't remember him ever caring for her that much.

Only Harry, she and Ron were always sort of just extensions of Harry. They walked past massive hedges that somehow still seemed neat and tidy, despite lack of upkeep for decades. Huge trees were interspersed with the hedges and other random plants she didn't recognize totally. She squinted at them, trying to recognize and catalog all the plants in her view. But to no avail, she just couldn't recognize some, and they were moving to fast for her to pick out the ones she did know. She let out a little huff when she tried to slow down but was pulled forward by Sirius anyway. He glanced down at her with a little mischievous smirk that she could not stand to look at. Her face felt hot, burning in fact and she found her heart beating erratically. He finally slowed as they walked through an archway made from hedges and vines. Hermione looked up and around, whipping her head around in every direction to look at everything before it was passed. They halted in the middle of a little clearing.

As she took in her surroundings, the first thing she noticed was how perfectly round the clearing was. Yet somehow it still had the feel of being completely natural, as if it was made that way by nature itself. There was a sense of a quiet happiness from a source Hermione couldn't quite place. The wind blew through the trees with a rustling that sounded like a happy sigh of relief. The strangest sense of peace washed over her as she stood there, it was as if she was_ home_. Upon realizing that, she was filled with such giddiness she thought she would burst. Hermione inhaled deeply, these emotions were irrational, of course she had never been here in her life, she was a muggle-born after all!

But somehow there was a doubt creeping in on the edge of her consciousness, causing her a small glimmer of unease about herself. "So, what do you think? Do you like it?" Sirius asked her quietly, his tone soft but a little anxious, as if he care about her opinion quite a lot.

Having been startled out of her thoughts, Hermione inhaled as she looked around fully this time. There was an ornate bench in one end of the clearing, and there were strange plants all around the edges. But what really caught her attention, was the dancing lights in the air. They looked like little yellow orbs, dancing through the air. She gasped in delight and Sirius smiled, watching her walk up to the little orb and try to touch it. It weaved around her finger and landed on her nose.

Hermione let out a little "Ooot!" when it did. Sirius laughed quietly, so as not to scare the orb creature. Hermione smiled at it, lifting a finger to her nose and coaxing the orb on to it. She giggled as it wobbled a little on the end of her index finger. Turning slowly, Hermione approached Sirius with said orb. Sirius stepped back cautiously, but Hermione continued her slow approach. Hermione reached for Sirius's hand ignoring his reluctance.

"Hermione, those things don't like me." He resisted, Hermione grabbed his hand anyway and very gently placed the orb on it. Sirius looked nervous for a minute, then his face broke into a smile. He chuckled lightly and held the little creature higher, about eye level.

He looked at it admiringly, "you know, last time I came out here, one of these suckers bit me. I lost my memory of the last week. I don't know why, but I felt like they'd take to you better than me. Hermione stared at him in shock.

"Really? Why me?" She inquired, sounding perplexed. Sirius shrugged, "I guess I just remembered how good you were with magical creatures and how much you care about them. Just reminded me of the legends about the Harts..." He trailed off when he squinted at the little orb, and pulled it closer, as if suddenly seeing something that he hadn't before.

Sirius's brows furrowed, Hermione looked between him and the little orb creature for a minute. "Sirius?" She asked quietly, feeling that something strange was occurring between those two. He didn't respond immediately, acting as though he hadn't heard her. Hermione began to feel uneasy.

"Sirius? Sirius? Are you alright?" But still there was no response, Hermione reached forward to tug on Sirius's sleeve.

"Sirius!" She exclaimed as her fingers brushed the fabric of his sleeve, but his head suddenly snapped to look at her. Hermione jerked back in reflex, gasping in surprise. Sirius blinked a few times and shook his head. Hermione studied his face carefully, looking for any signs that something was wrong but found nothing. Sirius smiled at her, as per his usual, nothing amiss could be gleaned from his eyes or facial expression.

Hermione was unnerved, "are you feeling alright, Sirius?" She asked anxiously, placing her hand on his forehead to check his temperature. He just smiled even wider and allowed her to touch his forehead. When she could detect no fever, she dropped her hand.

"I'm fine Hermione." He said gently, his kind eyes making her doubt that there was ever anything wrong at all. But Hermione still clung to the memory of what just happened, knowing that something _had_ been wrong. Even if whatever it was, happened to be gone now.

"Let's go back inside, shall we?" She requested in a tone that made sound more like an order and grabbed his arm, attempting to drag him back towards the door.

"Wait, love! I wanted to spend some more time outside! Let's go this way." He said to her excitedly, taking his arm from her grasp and putting it around her shoulders to gently guide her in a completely different direction.

Snape let out a long sigh, thinking of his not-too-distant future and the repercussions it would have on his life. He was struggling to get Draco to tell him anything about his plans, thus making his job infinitely harder. But he had made a vow. And one that he could not break.

But more than anything, he worried about the effect it would have on Miss Weasley when he had to finally kill Dumbledore. She was a magnet for trouble and would often seek out even more trouble when she did not have it right on hand. He knew that her daredevil streak was a result of her first year experience, and did not blame her. He distinctly remembered getting a lot bolder after a few of the traumatic experiences in his past.

She was the only person he felt the need to protect just because of her, or out of his own human decency. Unlike Potter or Draco, whom he protected out of duty to their mothers. He wasn't sure when it had happened, but somewhere in all the nonsense these past few years, he had come to the realization that he was not really doing it for Lily so much anymore. He certainly loved her, missed her and wished bitterly that he had been able to save her but it didn't haunt him night and day like it used to.

Once this whole damn war was over, Potter was safe, and the Dark Lord was gone for good, he would start over. This train of thought brought him to the potions he had invented but never published. He remembered that aging potion that he had tested on himself several years ago. He almost could not bare it if anyone ever found out that his "medical leave" he'd taken seven years ago was due to his experimental potion reducing him to a fourteen-year-old boy. He still suffered some side effects from that. It had taken him weeks just to figure out how to turn himself back to his original self. Or at least, as close to it as possible.

He'd only managed to re-age himself about ten years. Dumbledore had found it all highly amusing. After that he had perfected the potion, but had yet to test it on anyone. He considered testing it out on Black first, without his knowledge, but felt that would only make him a lot more unmanageable. It was almost worth it. Almost. He would consider this more after their upcoming escapade.

Ginny sat in her bed with her back against the headboard, wishing for a night of dreamless and peaceful sleep, but knew it would not come. So she sat upright, trying to keep herself from falling asleep, occasionally her eyes would droop, her head leaning to one side and then she'd catch herself. This was how she spent most nights when she felt anxious or had just had an episode of bad dreams.

She wished there was some way of fixing it, so she could just sleep without fearing that she'll wake up screaming in terror from her nightmares. She huffed in frustration, why couldn't she just be normal? Why did_ she_ have to be the one that got possessed by You-Know-Who? Why did Malfoy pick_ her?_ Why did she have to the one_ stupid_ enough to talk to journal that talked back?

She was pulled out of her bitter thoughts by the tears that spilled down her face. She touched a finger to her face and pulled it away, examining the wetness on her fingers. She felt pathetic, sitting there crying over her fate. She always did whenever she cried, it made her feel weak and vulnerable and she hated feeling that way. If you were weak than people could exploit you for it, only the strong were safe. So, she pretended to be strong and fine.

For her mother, father and all of her brothers. She was tired of the looks and concerned silences whenever she did something weak or acted vulnerable. Only Snape could see through her façade and didn't judge her for it. He didn't treat her like a delicate flower that was about to break any moment, even when she felt weak and stupid. He would just calmly help her when she needed it, but otherwise treat her like normal student. At least, until she hit thirteen and started finding clever ways to rebel within the limits of his patience and the technicalities of the school rules. She smiled, remembering the first time she really surprised him,

_Thirteen-year-old Ginny saw Snape criticizing some other students for how they composed their potion. She smirked evilly, adding the wrong ingredient at the incorrect time per the recipe on the board. She immediately added a second ingredient before her potion had a chance to congeal, it began to look a lot better than anyone else's. She kept adding the ingredients wrong and stirring it backwards as well. She looked up to see Snape standing in front of her, looking sour and unimpressed. She smiled pleasantly at him and continued her work on her backwards potion making. He opened his mouth to say something, but Ginny slipped the last ingredient into the potion and stirred three times counterclockwise very quickly. The potion came to a perfect simmering boil and the color, smell and texture were perfect. Snape's eyebrows raised considerably as he realized her level of comprehension and mastery of potions was far above average. She could see the respect in his eyes and she grinned like a mad person. She felt victorious, she just bested Snape!_

Author's note: Sorry for the short chapter and long delay, my life has been getting a little wild, but don't worry! I will continue to update.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own anything! It all belongs to J.K. Rowling!

Ginny smiled at the memory, feeling slightly better than before. She wished she had known Snape when he was her age, though she imagined he must have been a bit of a troubled child, judging by how he behaved around others. She noticed he was always reserved and closed off at best and downright nasty at worst. She counted herself lucky she had never been one to incur his wrath, even when she was trying to cause trouble. Ever since her first year she had noticed how much more patient he was with her than others. Ginny was well aware that it was simply due to her being possessed by You-Know-Who. But she had learned to see through peoples' social façade and to the real person underneath. She could always tell when someone had been through something traumatic in their life that they tried to cover up.

But from what she could see from Snape, it was as if his whole life had been traumatic. But she didn't feel sorry for him, or sympathetic, she just... understood, and accepted that that was how he was. She had seen people cope in different ways, and understood that everybody needed to find their own way to come to terms with what had happened to them in order to move forward with their lives. But she felt that Snape hadn't moved forward yet, and that he was still stuck to some past events that he carried with him even to this day.

Sometimes she envied Harry's ability to just keep going and not be haunted by the past like she was, but other times, when she overheard her parents talk about him, amazed at how well he handled everything despite all that he had been through. And they wondered if he could lend some of his resilience to Ginny. Ginny couldn't quite describe how this made her feel, it was a sort of sad and angry feeling, like she was not coping well enough to their standards or liking. She knew it made them uncomfortable to think of what happened, but it had happened to_ her_ not them. They couldn't seem to see that she was coping the best way possible for_ her_. She huffed loudly and dispelled those thoughts, it didn't help her any to dwell on what she could not change. She decided to get a head on her homework, so she pulled out her potions book and pieces of parchment paper. She leafed through the book trying to gauge based on the difficulty level, the way that the curriculum had been heading so far and the way Snape usually did things, what he would assign next for homework.

Hermione let Sirius drag her along to the left of where they had come in. She was still perplexed about what had just happened and a little scared. But he seemed so fine and normal, she couldn't bring herself to dampen his spirits. He walked a good distance and then stopped in the middle of a large field, there were bushes and small trees and sticks laying all around in various sizes. Hermione looked questioningly to Sirius, who gave her a big happy grin full of that childish mischief and excitement that she always saw in old pictures of him. Her eyes narrowed, what was he up to? Sirius looked around for a moment and then dragged Hermione with him as he almost bounced over to something random.

She stumbled a little as he bent over to get something off the ground. When he stood up, he was holding a stick with a look that was all dog. She burst out laughing, he bounced a little as he threw the stick and turned to her in anticipation. Still giggling, she looked at him a little confused for a moment, before it dawned on her. He wanted her to play fetch. She blinked a few times in utter shock. He huffed in slight annoyance at her hesitation. So he changed into a dog and ran to get the stick. He disappeared from sight for a second, then reappeared. He was running towards her at top speed, stick in mouth. Hermione smiled at first, but when he didn't show any sign of slowing down, she began to get nervous. He was approaching fast, so she shrank back in fear that he would hit her. Sirius began woofing at her through the stick in his mouth, running in circles around her. She tried to resist, telling him no, but it was no use he just kept woofing over her words. He began nudging her with his cold wet nose. She finally conceded, seeing how resistance was futile.

Hermione turned into a dog, and tried to grab the stick from Sirius's mouth, but he was too fast and darted away from her. Hermione growled and

barked at him, trying to admonish him as a dog. But it fell on deaf ears. Sirius continued to goad her by coming near enough to make her try to get the stick from her, but would jump back out of reach when she went for it. She let out an annoyed huff-bark at his antics, tired of letting him get the best of her. It was not in her nature to allow such things to happen to her. Finally she waited until he got close again and then lunged for the stick with all her strength and speed. Her mouth closed around the very tip of it as she flew by him. The little chunk came away with her when she went. She tripped and rolled head first, landing flat on her back with a loud SLAP. She stayed there, not moving for a minute. Sirius trotted over, concerned about her. She laid there unmoving. He whined and nudged her with his nose. But still, no response. He changed into a human and dropped the stick. Faster than he could react, Hermione snatched up the stick and took off running.

Sirius stood there for a beat, just admiring her sneakiness. "You clever little bird!" He said aloud as she ran back to him, bumping into him with her nose and head butting his legs in a playful fashion. He laughed aloud and changed back into a dog. He chased her all around the field, snagging part of the stick and playing tug-of-war with her. She was much smaller than him in size but refused to let that hinder her winning. He dragged her around by the stick but she refused to let go. The stick finally broke, unable to withstand the battle of wills that was taking place. Once the stick broke, Hermione turned into a human and ran off with the remnants still in her mouth. Sirius turned human as well, chasing after her. He nearly caught her a few times, only to have her slip away just before he could get her.

He finally chased her around a tree three times before she let him catch her. Sirius tackled her to the ground just to make sure she was really caught and she was not going to slip away again. Hermione was out of breath but giggling uncontrollably. Sirius started laughing as well, through he was just as winded as she was. He rolled onto his back and just lay there, trying to catch his breath. Hermione followed suit and lay were he tackled her. After a while, he turned his head to look at her and saw her staring up at the stars. Her cheeks were rosy from her running and her nose was pink as well. She had a dreamy sort of far away smile, her hair a wild curly mess with little bits of dirt in it. The moonlight gave her an almost ethereal look about her, shining in her hair like a halo. Her beauty suddenly hit him like a bludger to the gut, it was enough to take his breath away, he liked the care free look on her face. He wished he could capture how she looked in a picture but he had a feeling that this was not the kind of beauty that could be found in a picture. She turned to look at him and blinked in surprise when she caught him already staring at her. She blushed, her cheeks getting even redder than before, making him chuckle. He continued to smile at her as she struggled to regain her composure. Something in the way she moved suddenly triggered a memory from long ago.

_"You have to help! Please, you're the only one who can save our daughter! She needs your protection." The beautiful woman said, her wild curly brown hair blowing in the wind. _

_She had a pale, heart shaped face that was pleasantly contrasted by her rosy cheeks. She held an infant child in her arms and looked up at him imploringly with big eyes that almost looked violet in the light. They were out in a grassy field, little trees and bushes were scattered around in no particular order but still just as beautiful. There was a tall man with dark brown hair and deep brown eyes, Sirius could see both parts wisdom and a hardened, hostile wariness in his eyes. Sirius stared right back, not willing to be effected by this guy. They came to HIM for help. _

_"So, what do you need me to do?" He asked cautiously, not quite sure he liked these people or what they were asking of him. "Take care of our daughter, keep her safe, obviously." The man said gruffly, Sirius glared at him. "Isn't that YOUR job?" He sneered, "Well obviously, if it was that easy we wouldn't need YOU." The man snapped back in condescending manner. _

_Sirius glared at him, "Er- Mr. Black- Sirius?" The woman said, Sirius looked at her in shock. It had been a while since anyone ever addressed him like that. _

_"If you don't mind me asking, would you be able to protect her if it was needed?" She asked him quietly, he stared at her a moment, pondering the question. _

_"Yes, I could. I could send her to live with my best mate James, he's got a son about her age and she would be well looked after." He said calmly, gently almost. _

_The woman nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer. The man wasn't though. "And what about after?" He said in a tone that was almost civil. _

_Sirius blinked in surprise, "after? After what?" The man sighed quietly. "After she's all grown up? Will you still be able to protect her?" Sirius stared in confusion. _

_"Why would she still need protection as a grown woman, I should think by that time she'll be able to defend herself wouldn't she?" _

_The man shook his head sadly, "alas, I fear not. I believe she will always need your protection. Protection in magical form and in your physical presence in her life. Our protection magic will only last so long. This friend of yours is a Potter, am I correct?" Sirius nodded, on guard a little. _

_"Yes, why? Does that make a difference in some way?" The man bowed his head in an affirmative manner. _

_"Their protection would do for the time being, but eventually, sometime before she turns seventeen, she will be in great peril without your protection." He said sadly. Sirius held his gaze for a while, gauging if this guy was trying to pull one over on him or if he was serious. _

_"So what you're telling me is once this girl turns seventeen I'm supposed to be her personal bodyguard or something?" Sirius inquired incredulously, the man calmly looked him straight in the eye and said, "Or something."_

"Sirius! Earth to Sirius!" Sirius snapped back to realty with Hermione waving her hand in front of his face.

He blinked away the old memory, deciding to ponder it later. "Sorry love, just thinking a bit." He said nonchalantly, Hermione looked at him like he wasn't fooling her. He smiled anyway, plucking a twig from her hair.

She rolled her eyes, "Merlin's beard Sirius, sometimes you act like you're still a teenager." She commented without thinking, Sirius's smile faltered.

Hermione clapped a hand over her mouth when she realized what she'd said. "I'm sorry Sirius, I didn't mean it like that."

He shook his head sadly, "It's not like you're observation is wrong. I've spent over half my life in Azkaban and then on the run, I suppose I've never really had a chance to grow up, mentally. You're right, in my mind I'm still not much older than you or Harry, but physically I'm not nearly as young." He said sadly, Hermione felt so bad for him and bitterly regretted bringing it up. Not knowing what else to do, Hermione flung her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

"I'm so sorry Sirius." She whispered into his shoulder. He hugged her back gently at first, then as tightly as she held him. They stayed there for a little while, Hermione rubbed her thumbs in little circles on his back.

He smiled into her wild bushy hair. "You smell like grass, and like the lawn." He told her quietly, not sure what else to say and not willing to share what he was feeling at that moment. To his relief, Hermione laughed and lightened the mood.

"Well, I wonder how I got to smell so horribly?" She mused aloud in a teasing fashion. Sirius pulled away, smirking.

"I have no idea." He said innocently. "I didn't say it was horrible, though."

Hermione giggled at him. "Really? No idea huh? Sorry I assumed that it was horrible."

Sirius looked at her in mock sternness. "I would never lie to you about such things." He said, sending Hermione into another fit of giggles. "I take matters like this_ very_ Siriusly!" He said darkly, Hermione smirked. "Siriusly?" She asked.

"Always." He replied instantly. She laughed again, making Sirius laugh with her.

Violet tapped her foot impatiently, standing in front of her uncle Severus, who was blatantly ignoring her. She cleared her throat loud enough to get the attention of somebody two rooms over. Severus took a moment to place the quill and paper neatly to the side. He rubbed his face in frustration and looked up at her.

"Yes Violet?" He answered softly, a hint of annoyance coloring his tone. "I had another dream." She stated very quickly. Severus nodded for her to go on.

"It was you, and Dumbledore up on the Astronomy Tower. There was a flash of green light. You're going to kill Dumbledore, aren't you?" She said, her voice thick with emotion and fear. Severus stared at her for a moment. "Is that all?" He asked her in a voice barely above a whisper.

Violet shook her head, a tear rolling down her cheek. "You get bitten by a snake, in the Shrieking Shack. At the end of next year, Uncle Severus, You-Know-Who is going to kill you! Why do you follow him?" Her voice squeaked up at the word 'kill'. At this point, she was crying silently. Severus sighed quite resignedly, "Because I have a job to do, and if it kills me so be it."

Violet shook her head in disgust, "You're so stupid Uncle Severus! If you die then who protects me? Who is there to care for Auntie Danae? You know that she's with child right? She's going to have a little boy! His name is Perseus and he's going to need your help to survive! And what about Ginny?" Severus's expression hardened as she spoke, but when she said Ginny's name, his whole demeanor went cold. He glared at her without saying a word. She realized she had hit a nerve, but she filed away that piece of information for later use. Severus finally seemed to have collected himself a little bit.

"Everyone needs my help, even bloody_ Potter_. But eventually I have to die and you will have to figure out how to defend yourselves." His voice was as cold as the icy dungeon stones around them, though he spat the name Potter.

Violet glared at him silently, she wanted to shout her defiance of his words and tell him why he must live, but she knew it was no use convincing him. She took a deep shuddering breath, thought of her dignity, then spun on her heel and left. A plan started to form the instant she left his presence. Not sure where to go first, she decided to go to Dumbledore. She took a circuitous route through the back ways through the dungeon corridors. But when she finally ended up at the gargoyle that guarded his office, she realized she didn't know the password. She stood out there for a minute or two before the gargoyle jumped aside on it's own accord and out stepped Dumbledore from behind it. He looked very surprised to see her, but seemed friendly nonetheless.

"Why Miss Prince, what brings you to stand outside my office so late at night. Violet mustered up all of her courage and put on her calmest and most collected face.

"I need to speak to you about something of the highest importance." She told him seriously, her voice coming out more authoritative than she planned. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, but nodded silently and ushered her up the stairs to his office. Violet plopped into the big cushy chair that was facing Dumbledore's desk. She became suddenly self conscious of her behavior after her prior bossy tone with the Headmaster. She straightened up and sat very ladylike in the edge of the seat as Dumbledore sat in his high backed chair.

"So, what was so urgent that you needed to speak to me now, Miss Prince?" Dumbledore asked kindly, looking on in amusement at her posture in the chair. Violet opened her mouth to speak, but found she couldn't quite figure out what to say first.

"He's going to kill you! But you must save him, from the snake that's going to bite him! I know he doesn't care but I do and I need him alive and unharmed! He's a good man you know, my Uncle, despite his demeanor! You have to help him!" She blurted out in a confusing jumble, very un-Slytherin-like. Dumbledore stared at her in shock, seemingly alarmed at what she said. This seemed like a rather sane way to react to what she just said, so she was heartened by it.

"How did you come by this information Miss Prince?" He asked her calmly enough, though there was a hard edge beneath it. Violet suddenly went very cold. She had not told anyone but Uncle Severus about her dreams. She thought about it quickly, desperately trying to come up with an explanation without telling him what he shouldn't know.

She pulled her lips into a thin line as she stressed about it. "Umm... Professor Trelawny told me sir, she uh... t-taught me actually, to uh, r-read the f-future by the stars and tea leaves and such, and that's what she helped me see in the predictions and what not... That sounds silly and thin I know but, I'm sure it's true!" She stumbled through her save. Dumbledore's eyebrows crept up his forehead as he listened to her story.

He didn't look like he was going to believe her but at the end he seemed to concede. "Well, Miss Prince, that's quite a story. Who have you told about this exactly?" He inquired gently, Violet swallowed hard. "Just you and Uncle Severus." She whispered fearfully.

Dumbledore nodded, "very well Miss Prince, I shall see what I can do for Severus. But I fear I will not be the one to save him from the snake bite." He said calmly and sadly.

Violet nodded and before she knew it, she blurted out her idea. "I know, but Ginny Weasley can help him, I think if there's anyone who can figure out how to help him without him knowing, it's her." Violet clapped a hand over her mouth in horror at what she said. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled a little more than usual.

"That will be all Miss Prince, have a good night. Rest assured that I will find a way to help your dear Uncle Severus." Violet nodded silently, staring up at him with wide grey eyes tinged with purple. She got up and let herself out without another word. She all but tiptoed down the stairs and out of the door.

As soon as the gargoyle closed behind her, she looked around for a moment and then suddenly relaxed. "Well, that went well." She said aloud to herself and happily went on her way back to her Dormitory.

Dumbledore was feeling very perturbed about the visit from Miss Prince. He didn't for a second believe it was Sybil Trelawny who told her about his plan with Severus, or that Voldemort's snake would ultimately be Severus's demise. This perturbed him quite a bit. How did she know? He sat back and pondered it for a while. He vaguely listened to the portraits around him chatting quietly, Phineas Nigellus Black was talking about how much that Prince girl actually looked like a Black. This bothered him slightly, but he didn't know what that had to do with the trouble at hand of the girl knowing some of his secrets. He would have to look into that more carefully.


End file.
